Prince of Ponta
by Frog-kun
Summary: In an effort to win a year's supply of Ponta, Ryoma signs up for a mixed doubles competition. RyomaxPonta, with a hint of RyoSaku.
1. A year's supply of Ponta

**Chapter 1 – A year's supply of Ponta**

The following article was found in the August edition of the Monthly Tennis Magazine:

PONTA SPONSORS MIXED DOUBLES  
by Inoue Mamoru.

The new sponsor of Japan's mixed doubles tennis association is Ponta.

The popular soft drink brand has agreed to pay for the upcoming mixed doubles championship in Tokyo.

The Monthly Tennis Magazine will provide exclusive coverage of the junior and open divisions of the championship between the 26th - 31st of August.

According to Ponta spokesman Nomu Kenta, promotional activities are already under way.

"We believe in encouraging boys and girls to play tennis," says Mr Nomu.

"Hopefully, our decision [to sponsor the mixed doubles] will go a ways to increasing the popularity of that form of the sport."

Ponta is offering a year's supply of free Ponta to the winner of the mixed doubles championship. See Ponta's website for more details.

* * *

Echizen Ryoma was thirsty.

"Ponta... Ponta..." He muttered the name of the beverage aloud as he searched the exterior of the machine before him. His sharp, catlike golden eyes lit up and he sifted through his pockets to pull out a single, shiny coin. He put it into the machine and waited.

There was a clanking sound.

Glancing around quickly to see if anyone was looking, Ryoma reached out and took the chilled can out of the flap. It was time to indulge in his dangerous addiction.

As Ryoma lifted the can to guzzle its contents down, he noticed that there was something different about it. Usually, both sides of the can would have that generic grape logo on it, but this particular can had writing on the back:

ARE YOU GOOD AT TENNIS? WIN A YEAR'S SUPPLY OF PONTA!

Ryoma was shaken. He forgot whatever business he was on, propped himself on the grass and read the fine print of the can avidly.

Ryoma was a Ponta addict. More than that, though, he was a tennis prodigy. Not so very long ago, his junior high tennis team had won Nationals, and Ryoma had plucked the crown by defeating the child of god. In other words, Ryoma was plain awesome and he deserved a year's supply of Ponta. (Well, in his humble opinion, he did.) And if all he had to do to win that Ponta was to succeed in a tennis tournament, then consider that Ponta his.

Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple.

"And your partner's name?" the lady on the phone said when Ryoma rang that night to register. "This is a mixed doubles tournament."

…

CRAP!

That was the word to describe Ryoma's skill at doubles. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Then he thought of the Ponta. The sugary, delicious, grape-flavoured, mouth-watering, to-die-for drink that he was addicted to.

Yep. It was worth it.

"Your partner's name?" the lady on the phone prompted him again.

Ryoma was not the type of person to act impulsively. He usually left that to others so he could be all smug and 'mada mada da ne' them. But at that moment, Ryoma, without thinking of the possible side effects and consequences of his actions, went ahead and blurted out the name of the first female he could think of.

"Ryuzaki Sakuno." Then, feeling as if some sort of explanation was due, he added, "She's going to be my doubles partner." As if that wasn't obvious.

* * *

**Next chapter: **(It'll be longer, I swear! This was pretty much just a teaser.) Ryoma and Sakuno pair up for the first time. The tennis match of the chapter will be RyoSaku vs. The Golden Pair. Who here is thinking it won't end all?


	2. Bend your knees!

**Author's note: **Thanks to PynkPlayar, who is my beta reader for this fic. She's a prominent RyoSaku author herself and her fics are definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of the romantic comedy genre. (AKA, what you're reading now.)

Anonymous review replying:

**insert name here**: Ha ha, yeah, expect this fic to be updated weekly, but I may push it up to fortnightly updates if I find it hard to cope with my own ridiculous deadlines.

**Gabi**: I have nothing to say to your review really... yep. On to the chapter!

**Chapter 2 – Bend your knees!**

The young gents who made up Seigaku's tennis team were, in a word, insane.

Despite the fact that the Nationals was done, dusted and of yesteryear, within a few days afterwards, everyone in the club was willingly attending gruelling practice again. Apparently, captain Tezuka wanted to prepare for the imminent winter competition. It was currently midsummer.

Ryoma could hear the cicadas chirping as he made his way to school early in the morning. It wasn't anywhere near noon, yet already the day promised to be unsettlingly humid. Just as Ryoma was starting to feel a little hot and bothered, he heard Momo's voice: "Oi, Echizen, want a lift?"

Momoshiro Takeshi was seated on his bicycle and cheerily waved to his kouhai. "Thanks," Ryoma muttered aloud, and he got on Momo's bike.

"I wonder what we're doing at practice today," Momo thought aloud as he started pedalling down the road.

Ryoma was silent for a moment, pondering something. Then he said, "Maybe I should learn doubles..."

The bike hitched and swayed because Momo was seizing up in laughter.

"You? Learn doubles? Don't make me laugh!"

Ryoma eyed Momo's back, annoyed. "You were bad at it too, Momo-senpai."

Momo tightened his grip on the bike handles so he wouldn't fall off. He reduced his hysterical laughter to an amused chuckle. "Yes, but I've gotten better, haven't I? I'm quite the all-rounder, if I do say so myself."

There was another thing about the young gents of Seigaku. They all had massive egos. Even Fuji, who pretended he didn't have an ego, was secretly the biggest show-off among them with his triple counters and whatnot. As for Ryoma, if one fancied romanticising about him, one would say: "Deep inside that little body of his beats a big, big heart, plus an ego twice the size." Yep. That was Seigaku.

And so the young protagonist and his companion arrived at the gates of that splendid school. As Momo got off his bike, he asked Ryoma, "What's your sudden interest in doubles, anyway? Did someone challenge you to doubles?"

"Sort of," Ryoma replied as he, too, disembarked.

Then he briefly explained the whole thing about the Ponta ad and him signing up for the mixed doubles.

For some reason, Momo seemed to find the situation side-splitting in its humour. Ryoma was not quite as amused.

"What?" he demanded, somewhat gruffly.

"It's you!" Momo laughed. "Playing doubles... with a girl! So who's the lucky one, eh?"

They were walking along the path towards the tennis courts. Ryoma was about to answer Momo when suddenly he heard a soft girl's voice beside him.

"Ryoma-kun... congratulations on winning Nationals."

Well, speak of the devil. It was Sakuno – his 'partner'. Ryoma had not spoken to her at all since the finals of the Nationals; he couldn't remember what she'd said to him so it was probably insignificant.

Then the thought occurred to him. Since he had pretty much never initiated conversation with her in all these months he had known her, he didn't actually have Sakuno's permission to play doubles with her, did he? That was a potential spanner in the works.

Momo caught the stare Ryoma was eyeing Sakuno with. "Ahhh, I see!" The boy nodded knowingly. "I see how it is!"

Sakuno blinked, confused. So did Ryoma.

"You're Echizen's doubles partner!" Momo pointed his finger dramatically at young Sakuno to home in his point.

Then he stopped.

"Wait... can you actually play tennis?" he asked.

Sakuno glanced at Ryoma.

"Yes," she said. "I mean, no, I mean... I've gotten a _little _better..."

Ryoma noticed that she was carrying a pink tennis racquet. And then he remembered just how much she sucked. "Bend your knees; your hair is too long," he said under his breath. Ohhhh boy, maybe this doubles thing wasn't a good idea after all.

He didn't notice Sakuno had heard him and was blushing.

"Momo-senpai," she said. "What were you saying about doubles?"

"You're playing doubles with Echizen," Momo explained, "at some tournament."

Sakuno keeled over and fainted then.

* * *

When Sakuno came to, she was in the infirmary and there were numerous people crowded around her. She counted the faces. Vice-captain Oishi, her grandmother, Ryoma...

...And that was it.

Sakuno felt a little groggy. She wondered why she had fainted. Then she remembered: she was playing doubles with Ryoma, according to Momo. She had been so taken aback that she had gone dizzy and fainted.

How could Ryoma acknowledge her so much that he would play tennis... with her? It didn't make much sense. She needed confirmation.

Sakuno sat up in the bed and asked, "Am I really playing doubles with you, Ryoma-kun?"

Both Oishi and Ryuzaki-sensei blinked in surprise. As for Ryoma, he had his hat covering his face and he was pulling it down further as he spoke.

"If you want."

Ryuzaki-sensei demanded, "What is this? Echizen!"

_"Geez,"_ thought Ryoma. _"Can't we get to the tennis already?"_ Why did he have to deal with everyone's reactions first? Was it really that Out-of-Character of him to suddenly have a desire to play doubles with Sakuno?

Well, now that he thought about it, it was.

So Ryoma explained everything. Again. Oishi, Sakuno and Ryuzaki-sensei then burst out in varying degrees of laughter. Sensei was the most raucous with hers, while Sakuno gave forth a nervous titter and Oishi was somewhere in the middle. Oishi, being the sensible one, soon got over his laughter and said, "So you'll be wanting to practice with Ryuzaki, right?"

Of course. Ryoma looked at Sakuno, who looked at Oishi.

"Oishi-senpai, w-will you teach me how to play doubles?" Sakuno asked politely. It almost sounded like she was wailing, though. She sure lacked confidence in herself.

Ryoma sighed. He really didn't like to ask others for help but Sakuno looked like she needed it. (Ryoma didn't want to admit that _he _needed coaching in doubles too.) He glanced at Ryuzaki-sensei to see what she thought of it all. She was shaking her head.

"Sure thing," Oishi was saying meanwhile. "Eiji and I will be glad to help out."

* * *

So that was how Ryoma and Sakuno ended up on the tennis court with Oishi and Eiji at the other end of the net. When Eiji had found out about the Ponta ad, he had laughed too. In fact, all the regulars had laughed, expect for Tezuka. The poor guy hadn't even cracked a smile since the finals of the Nationals, probably because Inui was selling photos of… _that incident_… for 500 yen apiece. (Inui had already amassed over 100,000 yen in sales, but that was a story for another rainy day.)

The point was that it was difficult for anyone to take Ryoma and Sakuno pairing up as the serious issue that it was. Because of that, there was less pressure on Sakuno to impress; therefore, Sakuno surprised everybody by being capable of hitting the ball over the net.

She was actually _bending her knees._

Even her own grandmother was somewhat bewildered. So Sakuno's lack of proper screen time was actually productive for her…!

And then –

"Oof!" Sakuno dived for one of Eiji's corner shots and missed it completely. Her only achievement was a scrape on her knee.

"Mada mada da ne," said Ryoma. Sure, a person improves the most rapidly when at a beginner or an intermediate level, but even so, someone like that would find it impossible to properly rally with one of Seigaku's regulars. That was Sakuno's problem. Basically, she was as good at tennis as those real-life people at the local tennis club, _not _at the standard of playing physics-defying anime tennis.

Ryoma wondered what on earth he was going to do with her then. The only thing she was doing for him was dragging him down.

… And then it hit him.

Of course! Sakuno was a liability – a handicap! Therefore, he had to win in spite of her. So it would be like two against one, with the one dragging a heavy penalty weight. This match against the Golden Pair promised to be an exhilarating, alternative challenge for him. If he could win in this uneven match, then he really was The Prince of Tennis.

Ryoma was so proud that he had analysed the situation so accurately.

Meanwhile, Sakuno felt little flustered at how she was unable to keep up and kept glancing at Ryoma to see if he was looking disappointed in her or not. His facial expression was entirely neutral, until he noticed that she was looking at him. Then he walked over to her.

"Ryuzaki," he said calmly. "Just stay behind the baseline."

"Oh... okay..." Sakuno replied meekly. Even though she could obviously see that Ryoma didn't want her participating in much of the rallies, she relented anyway. She was talking to Ryoma and he knew more about tennis than she did.

After that conversation took place, there was an instant change in the flow of the match. Oishi hit the ball towards Sakuno only to discover that Ryoma hit it instead, and the boy sure hit the ball deep.

… But Ryoma had left his entire side of the court open.

Oishi hit the ball directly into the open court, fully expecting to win the point. Ryoma took off from one leg and dashed to the ball. One-legged split step! And then he returned the ball easily.

The Golden Pair soon realised that no matter how open the court was, Ryoma could get to the ball. There was no doubt about it – Ryoma was trying to win the match through his own strength alone.

Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo, as well as numerous other non-regulars watching, gasped at regular intervals.

"There's the Cool Drive!"

"Aaah, the Twist Serve!"

"Drive B!"

"Samurai Drive!"

That's right. Ryoma was pulling out his big guns.

This was a source of irritation for the Golden Pair. They were used to playing doubles the correct way and to have o'chibi take on both of them at once and still put up a good fight was unsettling for them.

"Nya, Oishi," Eiji whispered into his partner's ear, "we'll have to use Synchro. We won't let o'chibi take another game from us."

Oishi nodded. That was how Seigaku regulars were; even among each other they never played half-heartedly. In fact, the rivalry between Oishi and Eiji, the closest of friends, was one of the most epic in tennis. They were all fond of epicness.

_Hmm_... Ryoma considered the latest development. If the Golden Pair was going to use Synchro, there was only one outlet that was left for him: opening the doors of the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi_. All right... no backing down now.

He was getting ready...

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Ryuzaki-sensei got to her feet. She looked, for some reason, incredibly ticked off. Even her own granddaughter paled at the sight of her.

Ryuzaki gestured towards Ryoma. "Ryoma, come here." As he had no right to disobey a direct order from the coach, Ryoma slowly and unwillingly walked away from the court. The moment he was next to Ryuzaki-sensei she took him away to behind one of the buildings. There, they were alone.

"Echizen..." Ryuzaki-sensei sighed. "That wasn't doubles you were playing."

"I know," Ryoma replied simply.

"Geez...!" Ryuzaki had now adopted a resigned look on her face. "You say you want to win mixed doubles, right?"

Ryoma didn't say anything. Sensei took that as a 'yes'.

"Well," she continued, "then you should know that good pairs don't need to be siblings or the greatest of friends like the Golden Pair. All they need is respect for each other's abilities. And that," she said, looking sternly down at Ryoma, "is what what you lack." It had been so obvious that Ryoma had treated Sakuno as a burden rather than as an actual partner. Ryuzaki-sensei was upset by it because she was still protective of her granddaughter's feelings. In fact, she was more upset than Sakuno herself, who was used to being a supporter in the background. Playing doubles with Ryoma didn't change her relationship with the prodigy all that much.

It was rather painful to watch.

Ryuzaki-sensei said, "I suggest you get to know my granddaughter a little more before you choose to play doubles with her again. All right, Echizen?"

Wow. She sounded like she was setting her granddaughter up, Ryuzaki-sensei thought. But she knew Ryoma wouldn't take it that way anyway.

Ryoma looked at the ground. He wasn't ashamed, but he was deep in thought. On retrospect, he knew where he had gone wrong by turning the match against the Golden Pair into two-on-one. He hadn't been confronting the challenge of doubles; he had been avoiding it instead. It was a delicate matter... Ryoma suspected that this challenge would be as difficult if not more difficult than all of his prior singles matches beforehand.

But that was tennis. That was the feeling he got every time he stepped on the court to face a rival who was ready to push his limits. He'd do his very best to prove that he could overcome all challenges, and then afterwards, he wouldn't be so inclined to play those rivals again. It happened every time.

This was no exception.

Ryoma looked up, smirking, at Ryuzaki-sensei. "All right, I'll do what you say," he said. He wasn't sure at that moment quite how he was going to manage it, but for the sake of that challenge, he _was _going to get closer to Sakuno. Otherwise, he wouldn't be getting his Ponta.

* * *

**Next chapter: **Disappointed there's been a lack of fluff so far? Get your first (mild) dosage next chapter! The tennis match of the chapter will be RyoSaku vs. The Wall. As Mitch Hedberg said: "The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall." Are Ryoma and Sakuno up to the challenge? One thing's for certain: the next chapter will be epic! Put this story on Alert today!


	3. A moment

**Chapter 3 – A moment**

Ryoma neither liked nor disliked Ryuzaki Sakuno. She was kind of... there... and while Ryoma acknowledged her presence, he had never really taken the time to get to know her. He knew some things about her, such as that her hair was too long and that she had a horrible sense of direction and, er...

Ryoma scratched his head.

* * *

"Tomo-chan..."

"Sakuno! Why didn't you tell me you were Ryoma-sama's doubles partner?! I'm so jealous!"

"Tomo-chan... please...!"

"Sakuno!"

It was after practice and the two friends were walking down the main street. Tomoka was striding along as confidently and exuberantly as she always did, while Sakuno shuffled behind her with her head down. The latter was looking very ill at ease; she didn't look suspicious for someone walking in broad daylight, she was only feeling very embarrassed.

After that match with Ryoma, nobody on the team really paid much attention to her. Tomoka, because she wasn't an actual member of the club, hadn't been there to see Ryoma treat Sakuno like a lead weight. It was only afterwards that Sakuno confided to her friend what had happened. Sakuno didn't feel resentful about it but it was so humiliating now that she was looking back on it. Tomoka's interpretation was different again.

"I didn't think Ryoma-sama would be too good at doubles, so give him a chance, Sakuno!"

Sakuno was silent.

Tomoka frowned. "What's wrong, Sakuno-chan?"

The pigtailed girl seemed to struggle to express herself for a moment before shaking her head in a resigned manner.

"... I'm scared..." Her voice was only slightly louder than a whisper, yet Tomoka heard it. Or at least, she understood.

"Maybe we should go inside," she said, with a sharp glance at the burger store which was just around the corner.

Sakuno nodded timidly.

When the two of them were inside and sitting at one of the more secluded tables, Tomoka hastened to resume the conversation.

"Why are you scared? Ryoma-sama couldn't have done anything really bad to you. He's too noble and princely for that."

"N-no, it's nothing like that!" Sakuno's face was bright red. "It's just me! I'm..." She looked down at her fingers and played with her napkin.

"Go on...!" Tomoka said in a wheedling kind of tone which Sakuno did not like the sound of.

Sakuno confessed, "I don't want to be a burden to him."

Tomoka blinked.

Sakuno screwed her eyes shut and her petite shoulders shook just a little. Her hands were clenched around the napkin.

"I'm not good enough," she said in a surprisingly firm voice. "I know my skill disappoints him." She looked up. "Tomo-chan, I want to support Ryoma-kun. I used to be just someone always cheering him on from afar but now, if I can help him in another way, I will."

After all, Sakuno thought, _he _was the one who had inspired her to play tennis. She owed him an incalculable debt.

She suddenly noticed that Tomoka was staring at her as if she'd grown another head.

"Oh..." Sakuno winced. Now she realised what a humiliating thing she'd said. It sounded like she wanted to _marry _Ryoma – heaven forbid! She fancied him a little but for the most part her feelings were platonic. Of course she was utterly horrified by what she'd said. At least she'd only made a complete fool of herself in front of her best friend rather than in front of the entire world.

"Sakuno... you've grown." Tomoka spoke with evident emotion in her voice. Sakuno could see tears brimming in her friend's eyes.

Then... "Oh, Sakuno-chaaaaan!"

And with that, Tomoka came over to Sakuno and hugged her tightly. Tomoka didn't realise that her friend resembled a beetroot sprouting pigtails just then. She probably never would discover it, either.

Beneath that thick layer of girlish embarrassment clouding Sakuno's emotions, however, the pigtailed freshman felt her steely resolve harden.

* * *

Coach Ryuzaki Sumire sighed heavily and stared down morosely at the paperwork. Aside from the considerable amount of work she had before her, she was also worried. She felt concern for her granddaughter and for Ryoma. What was that boy thinking? Those two children had a mighty long way to go, both of them. This wasn't about individual prowess or skills, it was about growing together. She was not sure if Ryoma understood that about tennis.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. "Come in," said Ryuzaki, and she looked up to see Inoue at the doorway. "Come in, Inoue-kun. I'll make you coffee."

"Ah, there's no need," Inoue smiled as he shook his head. He took a seat opposite Ryuzaki. "I came here to ask you a question."

"As you invariably do," Ryuzaki remarked dryly.

Inoue shrugged. "I'm a reporter; asking questions is what I do for a living." He coughed. "Anyway, I wanted to know if anyone from Seigaku is participating in the Mixed Doubles Championship. Maybe Kikumaru-kun or Oishi-kun is pairing up with someone from the girl's club..."

Ryuzaki cut him off, chuckling. "As far as I know, only Echizen is."

"Echizen?" Inoue hadn't been expecting that.

Ryuzaki sipped on her coffee and put the mug down before she explained herself further. Unlike most of the other people who heard the story, Inoue didn't laugh. Instead, he looked thoughtful. He had never actually seen Ryoma play doubles.

"If Echizen isn't as strong a doubles player like you say, then this will be an interesting turn of events. Rather than being the favourite to win, he is the underdog."

He paused for a moment, then he opened his mouth and went on.

"You do know that the preliminary round of the tournament will take place within a matter of days? Most of the contenders for the championship title will be knocked out then. Only sixteen will be left for the actual event." Inoue frowned. "I'd hate to say it, but I don't like Echizen's chances."

That Inoue... He was talking about the freshman rookie who had defeated Yukimura in the Nationals – and he didn't like his chances! Ryuzaki smiled while shaking her head. She was absently gazing out the window and something she was looking at seemed to be improving her mood.

"Is something the matter?" Inoue asked curiously.

"I think there's a chance," Ryuzaki said.

Looking out the window at the quiet school backdrop below, she could see her granddaughter.

* * *

She would not let Ryoma-kun down.

Sakuno was panting heavily.

It was almost evening now and in those few hours after she had said goodbye to Tomoka at the burger store, Sakuno had practised her tennis harder than she had ever practised in her life. She was back at the school hitting a ball against the wall over and over and over... only stopping to wipe off the dripping sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand. She had long since stopped noticing what was around her. Oblivious to the darkening sky and to the chill that approaching night brought, Sakuno focused only on the wall, on hitting the ball...

… and bending her knees...

When had her determination level increased? She wondered about it dimly. Had it been only recently or had it happened gradually ever since she had met Ryoma? She had always admired the Seigaku regulars for their inexorable strength and courage, things which Sakuno failed to find within herself. At least, that was what she thought.

She was weary. Her arm felt heavy and she could almost no longer hear the sound of the ball hitting the wall or her racquet strings. Yet she kept moving. She was overcoming her own wall – not the tennis wall but the wall of her own endurance – and she didn't know how far she could go. Only... that it wasn't much further now... until...

The ball bounced past her as she collapsed to her knees. She was done for now.

Pok.

Sakuno blinked, gazed up. The ball hadn't rolled away; someone was continuing the rally against the wall.

Sakuno rubbed her eyes and stared up at Echizen Ryoma.

He'd been watching her for a while and she hadn't noticed at all. Ryoma hadn't left the school at all; he'd stayed practising. And then he noticed Sakuno slip in through the gates and commence her private, gruelling training. Ryoma remembered what Ryuzaki-sensei had said about how he needed to "get to know" Sakuno, so he just watched the girl for a while. In his experience, how a person played tennis told a lot about his or her character.

Well, he knew already how Sakuno played. She was a conservative kind of player. If he categorised her, it would probably be as a counter-puncher but without the genius that defined Fuji and his Triple Counters. She lacked the aggression that made a successful doubles player.

But watching her here, he was surprised. When Sakuno stripped away her reservations, she could actually hit the ball kind of hard. And he didn't think he would ever see such a meek little creature like her wearing such a fiery expression on her face. While her playing could not by any stretch of imagination be described as 'skillful', Ryoma was somewhat impressed. Insensitive though he was at times, he got the feeling that Sakuno was training the way she was because he had treated her as a burden earlier. With a sudden feeling of... shame?... he remembered Ryuzaki-sensei's words: "Respect... that is what you lack for Sakuno."

He stopped the ball and casually bounced it on his racquet and as he did so, he looked down at Sakuno and said:

"Not bad."

The way things were looking, he might her give two weeks worth of that year's supply of Ponta. Or maybe enough for a month. Yeah.

* * *

**Next chapter:** I love giving misleading previews. Next time there's no formal match but it _does _feature a guest appearance of Yamabuki. Lucky!

(Oh, and I'm really sorry, but I realised for this story that if I am going to have Ryoma and Sakuno compete in a mixed doubles tournament, I'm going to have to create OCs. Ooooooh, the horror!)


	4. The Jimmies of Seigaku

**Author's note: **Thanks to o0fuYuHAnAsHIrAZuKI0o for help with some OCs. Also thanks to everyone else who has reviewed, favorited or alerted this story. You all deserve Ponta.

Anonymous review replying:

**Judge Claude Frollo**: Bob is God, 'nuff said. I think I might include him in the story later, actually. :D For now, though, the only OC in the story is the one I've made up. Say what you will about my OC but you really cannot call him a Mary Sue. I have a very morbid sense of humour.

**Chapter 4 – The Jimmies of Seigaku**

That same evening, Shiba Saori found herself in a certain _La Bella Carne _restaurant located in downtown Tokyo. While _La Bella Carne _was not a particularly upper-class restaurant, it carried an atmostphere that Shiba could only describe as 'sufficient'. Everything about it was just right – the lighting, the level of noise, the decorations – nothing was out of place. It was the rather unremarkable, innocuous sort of place in which one could sustain pleasant dinner conversation, sip on some chardonnay and then promptly forget about it by the next morning. The only thing that could possibly marr Shiba's experience was the fact that through the walls she could hear strains of sound from the noisy karaoke bar across the road.

That and the presence of the man sitting across the table.

The female reporter peered at him. He was around Nanjiroh's age, was clean-shaven with a thinning hairline and wore round retro-style spectacles. There was a peculiar – rather quaint – manner through which he consumed his food. His table manners were impeccable but he seemed to peck at his food. He had a bite here and a bite there, and never was he seen to 'dig in' as one might say. Yes, there was something about his manner that reminded Shiba of a bird, yet not a particularly graceful one. This was Nomu Kenta, the spokesman and the face of Ponta.

"Hmm, interesting... interesting..." Had he any facial hair – a stubble or perhaps a moustache – Nomu would have been stroking it. "I am, quite frankly, greatly intrigued by your photography, Shiba-san."

"Uh, thank you, sir." Shiba was faintly puzzled. Nomu had called the editors of the Monthly Tennis Magazine not long ago enquiring about the junior boy's tennis. Since Shiba had compiled her extensive range of photos covering all the tournaments including Nationals into one folio, Nomu had asked to see her in person. So now here he was, after dinner, leafing through Shiba's folio with evident relish.

"It would satisfy my agenda to see these genteel young men compete in the junior division of the Mixed Doubles Championship," Nomu was saying. "I am immensely glad that you allowed me the privilege of taking a gander of your photos. I – ah!"

He had turned the page and then stopped, staring at one particular leaf.

Shiba bit her lip. "Is there something the matter, sir?"

Nomu held up the folio and Shiba saw that he was looking at the page which contained pictures of only one particular boy. That boy was one of Shiba's personal favourites, which total strangers found easy to imagine. The boy was the only one who had several pages attributed only to him, and he was shot from a variety of angles, although most of them seemed to have been taken without the boy's eager participation.

"What figure! What charisma! What aura! Tell me, what is this spectacular boy's name? He would make an absolutely splendid mascot for Ponta!" Nomu Kenta was absolutely gushing.

Shiba did not know much about Nomu Kenta's character yet now she was beginning to form a most unsavoury opinion of him. He was a queer man, a very queer man indeed. She couldn't help but stare at him as she tried to recollect what she had heard of his background. Nomu had been brought up in the country. Unlike the other boys who he had grown up with, he had never been any good at sports; instead he had focused his efforts into becoming a businessman, which he saw as an intellectual sport, not unlike tennis in some respects. A perfectly rational view, of course, yet everything else about Nomu reeked of his eccentricity. In his free time, it was said, he collected nude action figures and used toothpicks and was also a fan of Hello Kitty, Michael Jackson and the Powerpuff Girls.

And now Nomu Kenta, aged forty, looked at Shiba's photos and fell deeply, madly and irrevocably in love with Echizen, aged twelve. Or, to put it more accurately, his tennis.

* * *

What a queer world this was indeed.

When Ryoma walked to school early the next morning, he hadn't expected to see a middle-aged man peering at him from the front gates.

Ryoma proceeded to ignore the man. Staring straight ahead as if he was wearing blinkers, he looked and saw Ryuzaki approaching him from the direction of the school building. Ryuzaki Sumire, that is.

"Hmm, Banji, you're here," Ryuzaki-sensei spoke to the middle-aged man.

The coach of Yamabuki Junior High – Banji – was smiling pleasantly. Ryoma waited patiently for an explanation as to why the man was at Seigaku.

Ryuzaki-sensei turned to Ryoma with a manner of crispness. "Echizen," she began, "are you ready to try doubles again?"

Ah.

Ryoma nodded.

"Banji has kindly agreed to coach you and Sakuno," Ryuzaki-sensei put in. "We don't have time to develop an intricate pair like the Golden Pair so the plan is to have you gain a strong grasp of the fundamentals of doubles. Banji will help you with that."

"Hmm...!" Ryoma gazed up at the two adults with interest. "So we're like the Jimmies of Seigaku," he remarked. Ryoma didn't mind the Jimmies, even though Oishi and Eiji were better than them.

Ryoma found Sakuno practising with the girl's team (whose members, of course, should _always _remain unnamed). When Sakuno spotted Ryoma, she sensibly left the girls at once. She knew what had to be done if she and Ryoma were to get any better. As for Ryoma, he was certain that last time's disaster was not going to repeat itself because he actually _was _going to put effort into doubles this time.

"All ready to begin?" Banji asked cheerfully when Ryoma and Sakuno arrived at the courts together. Ryoma nodded. Banji, who was still wearing that patent Fuji-like smile on his face, remarked off-handedly, "A warm up might be useful."

Clever young Ryoma could see Banji's coaching style already coming into play. By suggesting to do something rather than directly ordering for it to be done, he could get around obstinate types like Akutsu. Ryoma himself didn't hesitate to commence his usual warm up laps around the courts.

"Just a moment." Inui's baritone voice sounded behind him. "Will this assist with the warm up?" Ryoma turned and stared at Inui, who was grasping a glass of discoloured liquid in his hand. It looked like water, but Ryoma sure didn't trust any kind of beverage from the hand of Inui Sadaharu.

"No thanks," Ryoma said whole-heartedly and he trotted off at once so he could put as much distance between him and the Inui Juice.

Sakuno realised that she was being left behind. "Ah! Ryoma-kun, wait for me!" As she dashed after the Prince of Tennis, Banji simply stood by the sidelines smiling away. Ryuzaki-sensei shot him a curious glance.

"I'm surprised you agreed to help us," she commented. She tried to sound casual but she couldn't pull off the subtlety of the indirect question she was asking: _why?_

Banji looked at her with one brow raised. "Tennis is all about having fun," he said.

Ryuzaki grumbled. "Don't try to pull that one over me. I suppose you have your own reasons for this."

The smile on Banji's face grew less pleasant and more... assured. He said, "Make no mistake; Yamabuki will be doing well in the winter competition, if that's what you're thinking. But who am I to deny a talented young tennis player in need?"

Ryuzaki shook her head. "I don't understand you sometimes."

The conversation ended there.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, Ryoma was back to receive his instruction with Sakuno stumbling sluggishly behind. She was not as fit as the Seigaku regulars. Ryuzaki-sensei mentally reminded herself to ask Inui to prepare Sakuno a training diet, since she obviously lacked the stamina to play in long matches. Meanwhile, there was Banji to contend with. He played by the book, and Ryuzaki-sensei could see nothing wrong with what he was teaching or even how he taught it.

The other tennis players in the club pretended not to watch what was going on but were enjoying it all in a clandestine sort of way. _The cocky freshman was_ _actually learning something. _Ye gaspe!

That day, Ryoma and Sakuno were tutored, among other things, on how to close up the middle, how to hit an approach shot, how to hit a first volley and to reflex volley. Banji even taught them another basic formation to go with the standard one: the baseline formation.

"In mixed doubles, the girl's serve is generally weaker than the boy's serve, so naturally, your opponents will try to attack the girl's serve," Banji explained. "This is especially true for the two of you because of the marked differences between your skill levels."

Ryoma and Sakuno both nodded. No arguing with that.

"So," Banji went on, "in this formation you stay at the baseline, both the server and the server's partner. Because Sakuno-chan might not be able to handle a deep crosscourt return on her own, this formation ensures that there are two of you playing defense. When your confidence in the rally increases, then you can move up to the net."

And Banji was absolutely correct.

Ryoma had quickly discovered for himself that when he was at the net, doubles became a whole lot easier. Some shots, like the angled volley and the smash shot, Ryoma could already hit in singles, so with those necessary shots up his sleeve, he picked up doubles faster than he thought he would.

Actually, it was kind of fun, he thought.

As for Sakuno, she didn't learn as quickly as Ryoma did but there was no denying that she was doing her very best. Like most beginners, Sakuno quickly discovered the ease and comfort of doubles. There were two of them on the court, which meant less work for her. She felt a sense of ease knowing that there was someone covering for her mistakes, someone who was a tennis prodigy. It was a feeling that she had somehow missed the first time she had paired up with Ryoma. And as the tutoring session went on, Sakuno became more and more confident in her ability to play.

Ryuzaki watched and felt unmistakeably proud of her granddaughter. A lot of people picking up tennis started with doubles and then moved onto singles later. Ryoma may have done the opposite in his case, yet it was nice to see Sakuno finally starting to take those first stumbling steps in the direction Ryuzaki Sumire had taken. It was not a feeling one could just describe and expect others to understand. The idea of having a legacy...

Just then, Ryuzaki felt someone tap her on the shoulder and she snapped out of her thoughts. She turned around. It was Shiba and there was a man behind her.

The reporter opened her mouth to speak but then the man spoke. It wasn't Inoue.

"Ryuzaki Sumire-san? I'm so honoured to meet you."

A funny-looking bespectacled man. Ryuzaki cocked her head and peered curiously at him.

"Th-this is Nomu Kenta-san from Ponta. He asked to come here so he could look at the p-players," Shiba explained stutteringly. Ryuzaki could have sworn she almost looked unhappy.

In fact, Shiba was downright miserable. She hadn't manage to stop Nomu from going to Seigaku so she was tagging along to make sure nothing peculiar happened.

"Where is Echizen Ryoma-kun?" Nomu Kenta asked, sounding like an excited little boy with a new toy. "I have heard remarkable stories about the young lad."

Ryuzaki-sensei pointed. "He's over there." She didn't mind; she was used to seeing people awed by Ryoma.

Nomu stared avidly at the young boy on the court. His lips were moving but there was no sound coming out.

At last he said, "He's even more remarkable in person. I am truly astounded!"

Ryuzaki smiled.

Then Nomu scratched his chin, considering something. "But that girl pales in comparison. She ruins the image. To my consternation, I cannot ask _her _to be a mascot." He was obviously talking about Sakuno.

Ryuzaki frowned.

"I don't know what you're doing here," she said coldly.

Nomu Kenta recoiled as if he had been struck. Then, with a sharp sideway turn of his head, his intelligent brown eyes were boring into Ryuzaki's.

"I apologise; I am the spokesman of Ponta. I, er, own the company as well but I don't like intimidating people by declaring that." There was nothing aggressive about the way he spoke. Ryuzaki realised he meant absolutely no harm at all in what he had said.

"And..." Nomu continued, "as a man purely looking out for my own selfish interests, I am aware that there are certain personalities, especially within the sporting field, who can capture the public's imagination. That boy, Echizen-kun, is one of those personalities.

"I was hoping to find a boy-girl combination when I sponsored mixed doubles, since marketing a couple is sometimes more effective than using a single person, but ah... the boy and the girl together have no chemistry. It would be better to market Echizen-kun as an individual."

"As an individual, you say?" _Yet _you_ seem to regard Echizen as an object rather than as an individual. _That was what Ryuzaki-sensei wanted to say, and yet, knowing that she was speaking to someone more important than her, she kept her mouth shut.

Ryoma would probably_ never _do what Nomu wanted him to do. It was that simple.

"I understand that it's early days yet," Nomu was saying in a vague sort of manner. "I cannot tip for Echizen-kun to win the entire championship. Such an action would not be viable. But I have a feeling..." He looked up at the sky, then down at his shoelaces.

"After this, he must forget doubles and go back to singles... Yes... that would be better for him... It is foolery to waste his potential."

Suddenly, Nomu's cell phone rang in his pocket. He picked it up and put it to his ear.

"Yes? Yes. Yes. I see. No. No. Yes. All right then."

He closed the lid of the phone.

"I'm afraid I must take my leave," he announced vaguely. "I'll be looking forward to seeing Echizen-kun play at the preliminaries."

That said, he bowed and left. He never noticed Ryuzaki-sensei's numb sort of countenance. For a whole minute, all she did was stare, frowning at the spot where Nomu had been. Shiba piped up worriedly, "Something wrong, Ryuza-"

Ryuzaki-sensei interrupted her. "No, no. There's nothing wrong at all."

Yet that moment, Ryuzaki looked up sharply at the smiling instructor Banji on the court and understood everything. She'd been so concerned about her granddaughter that she hadn't noticed what others had seen.

Ryoma was never meant for doubles. Now that he'd stopped treating Sakuno as a burden, that didn't actually stop her being one. In the end, Sakuno's presence on the court was only going to distract Ryoma from his true tennis. Well, Ryoma could play any kind of tennis he liked, really; it was his choice. Yet if he was distracted, others would have the opportunity to surpass him in skill. That was why Banji had agreed to coach Ryoma in doubles...!

Ryuzaki looked at Ryoma, staring down his face to its minute details. It was then that she noticed a subtle _something _about him that hadn't been there before. And she knew...

* * *

**Next chapter: **Since so far this story seems to be more about Ryuzaki-sensei than Ryoma and Sakuno (lol because it's true) next chapter won't be about sensei at all. Just how much does Ryoma truly want to play doubles, really? He must work it out quickly because he and Sakuno will be playing an intimidating first match. It's RyoSaku versus The Tachibanas!

(OMG, CANON CHARACTERS! I'm so clever. Be awed by my prowess.)

So yeah, alert this story if you haven't already, 'mkay?


	5. Just before the match

**Author's note:** You know what? I lied. There is no tennis this chapter. I decided to insert random situational comedy and build up instead. I like to torture people like that. Anyway, thanks to YuukiChii for submitting his/her OC. Also, thanks to everyone else who has read, reviewed, alerted, yadda yadda.

**Chapter 5 – Just before the match  
_In which Echizen tries to be good boyfriend material and fails miserably_**

It is said that when one wants time to crawl, it doesn't: the minutes and the hours and the days will pass by in the blink of an eye.

That was how it was for Sakuno. She desperately needed more time to prepare herself for the tournament but time was not kind to her at all. Before she could possibly comprehend what was going on, it was two days before the preliminaries. Two days before Sakuno's first ever mixed doubles match. No matter how firmly she declared to herself that she would not weigh Ryoma down, she felt that fear creep up on her. All she ever seemed to do was get in the way.

Fortunately for Sakuno, everyone on the team was thoughtful to her during the lead-up to the first match. Oishi in particular was sensitive to Sakuno's plight and, after Banji's inctruction lesson had come and gone, he took it upon himself to teach Sakuno everything about doubles he knew, as if she was some kind of special protégée. Working together with Eiji, Oishi became known to Sakuno as "The Golden Instructor" of mixed doubles.

The other regulars also contributed in some way. Inui developed a training menu suited to Sakuno's level of fitness. One day, Kaidoh approached Sakuno and told her gruffly how to lift weights properly and how to do sit ups and pull ups and all kinds of other training methods. Tezuka said, "Don't let your guard down," and was always careful to organise team practice so that it wouldn't collide with Sakuno's training. Kawamura often gave kind words of support whenever Sakuno stepped on to the court. Same went for Fuji. Momo, typically enough, was as friendly as ever.

The one who was the most subtle about lending a hand/assisting/etc. was Ryoma. He never really spoke to Sakuno unless he really had to, yet despite the countless errors she made on the court, he never once said "Mada mada da ne." For his patience, Sakuno was eternally grateful. She did notice, though, that the boys never expected as much of her as they did of themselves, and that was something she was unsure whether she was grateful or annoyed about.

When she asked her grandmother about the issue, she'd explained, "It's because you're not as used to harsh training. If you swing a racquet too many times in a short span of days, you'll get tennis elbow and that will stop you from playing your best. There's such a thing as overtraining, especially when you're just starting out."

That made Sakuno feel better. Once you got into tennis, you couldn't get out of it, and Sakuno was beginning to understand why tennis-crazy Ryoma was the way he was.

* * *

It was 3:15pm at the train station and Ryoma was waiting to meet Sakuno.

Earlier that day, when Ryoma had been at practice, Eiji had advised him to meet up with Sakuno so they could "privately discuss their feelings." This notion was confirmed in Ryoma's copy of _Doubles For Beginners_, a book which Ryoma thought he'd never read again. It turned out that after that first doubles match with Momo, Ryoma had forgotten to burn the book like he'd intended to and now it was turning out to be surprisingly useful. _"Be sure that you and your partner tell each other everything you feel about an upcoming match,"_ it had said, _"because if you bottle it inside, it will affect your combination."_

Eiji, Momo and Inui were unseen among the throngs of busy people at the train station. They were all staring at Ryoma, who was leaning back against a chair while sipping Ponta and leafing through his book.

"I can't believe Echizen agreed to go on a date with coach's granddaughter," Momo murmured incredulously.

"O'chibi's such a sly one!" Eiji said, winking.

Inui was scribbling furiously into his notebook. "However, his date is fifteen minutes and forty-nine seconds late," he remarked.

"You think she's standing him up?" Momo asked curiously. Who knew the little girl had it in her to try something like that!

"Waah! O'chibi's leaving!" Eiji moaned. He dramatically pointed a finger at where Echizen ought to have been but wasn't.

Inui closed his notebook in a resigned manner. He was disappointed. It would have been an interesting to his data to have the knowledge of how Echizen would act in a love relationship. How that would help Inui defeat Ryoma was something not even the data man knew. The point was that things between Ryoma and Sakuno was not at love relationship point yet. Would it ever be...?

"Hey," Momo said suddenly. "Echizen's still waiting. He just went to get another can of soft drink."

The three regulars glanced at each other. They'd been on the verge of leaving themselves. Luckily, Echizen had been quick at the vending machine. They sat and watched as Ryoma continued to wait.

Fortunately enough, the boy didn't need to wait much longer. Five minutes later, Sakuno burst into the scene, panting. She was wearing a bright and cute-looking pink skirt and a matching white shirt. Her hair was done up in girly braids as per usual. "Sorry I'm late," she gasped. "I got lost."

Ryoma merely glanced dismissively at her. He'd expected as much. Then he went on drinking his Ponta.

_Ah, Ryoma-kun really likes that drink,_ Sakuno thought suddenly. It was why he was playing doubles with her. The only reason...

"Have a seat," Ryoma said abruptly.

"Um... sure." She sat down as he shuffled across the bench to make room for her.

Meanwhile, Eiji, Momo and Inui drew closer because they couldn't hear Ryoma thanks to the surrounding hustle and bustle. Why did Ryoma choose a train station out of all places for a rendezvous?

So they strained their ears as hard as they could to listen. They didn't want to get noticed.

"... admit our feelings to each other," Ryoma was saying.

The three regulars were absolutely flabbergasted.

"O'chibi's being Out-Of-Character!"

"Are they going to start making out?"

"Ii data." Scribble. Scribble.

Sakuno had her head down and was nervously playing with her skirt. Her reaction to what Ryoma was saying -

-"I don't know how you feel about doing it with me."

"I'm not really fussed."

The regulars leaned closer...

Sakuno said, "I hope I'll be able to keep up with you, Ryoma-kun."

Naturally, the three teenage, hormonal, male eavesdroppers interpreted that in the dirtiest way possible. They exchanged shocked glances.

"Whatever," Ryoma said. He took another sip of Ponta. "You'll be fine."

"How do you manage to stay so calm, Ryoma-kun?"

He looked at her. He blinked. He shrugged.

"Never really thought about it," was his reply.

"Oh," said Sakuno, non-commitally.

They sat there in awkward silence. Ryoma swore he saw a tumbleweed roll by.

"Are we done yet?" he asked finally.

Sakuno jumped a little out of her seat.

"O-Oh... I guess we are." She didn't want to contradict Ryoma and besides, she disliked the unproductive silence as much as he did.

"Okay," he said.

They got up and went their separate ways.

Meanwhile, Eiji, Momo and Inui stood there with their jaws figuratively planted on the cement.

"Uh... what was that about?" Momo asked.

Inui snapped his notebook shut and sighed. It was just like Echizen to defy the laws of romance. What a slippery kid...

* * *

The next day was the day of the tournament's beginning.

Ryoma sat in the back of Ryuzaki-sensei's car next to Sakuno. With one hand rested on his chin, he looked out the window, even though he couldn't see much out. Rain was pouring heavily from the heavens and the windows were almost completely fogged up. Ryoma could hear the constant sounds of heavy traffic as the car scooted about a metre every minute. If they weren't stuck in a colossal traffic jam in the heart of central Tokyo, he and Sakuno might have been well on their way to the Mixed Doubles Championship that morning.

Mada mada da ne.

"Should have accounted for the traffic..." At the wheel of the car, Ryuzaki-sensei was muttering darkly as she was forced to stop at a light for the umpteenth time.

That left no choice. Time was ticking away.

"Guess we'll have to run for it," Ryoma said as he sat up and smirked. Sakuno, who had been dozing next to him, snapped her eyes open at once.

"I suppose you must," Ryuzaki-sensei said and ignored Sakuno's feeble squeak of alarm. "You won't have time to warm up at this rate. Besides, the stadium's only just a few streets away from here. Mind you don't get too wet, though. Take this umbrella."

With a mumbled thanks, Ryoma took Ryuzaki-sensei's plain black umbrella. Motioning for Sakuno to follow him, he opened the car door and stepped briskly out onto the street. Feeling bleak and miserable and not at all in the mood to play tennis, Sakuno stepped out of the car with great reluctance. Apparently, Ryoma had forgotten that running through a dirty wet street while lugging their tennis bags was not a particularly comfortable activity. Sakuno could not help but feel cold and wet. She ran beside Ryoma in silence.

The first indication to Sakuno that she had arrived was when she saw tennis courts in the distance. No one was standing on them and their doors were bolted shut. Maybe she wasn't going to play any tennis after all, Sakuno thought with a grim smile. Because she didn't have the moral support she had expected from Tomoka and the Seigaku regulars (there hadn't been enough room in Ryuzaki-sensei's car) Sakuno would be glad if it so happened that matches were delayed.

Then she felt Ryoma nudge her arm and she turned her head towards where he was looking. The carpark, which was about fifty metres away from the courts to Sakuno's left, seemed busy and she could see more cars driving in. Further down the road there was a building as large as a warehouse. A sign was held up near the top of the building which read 'Tennis' in large Japanese characters. Sakuno easily identified the place as an indoor tennis centre. The stadium had indoor courts as well as the outdoor courts nearby, it seemed. This was where the preliminary round of the Mixed Doubles Championship was going to take place.

She stared for a moment, impressed by the sight of it. But then Ryoma started walking along and he took the umbrella with him, so Sakuno hurried her pace so that she could be beside him. She felt safer being near someone who was used to tennis tournaments.

Maybe, because he had been brought up from a young age playing tennis competitively, Ryoma did not understand why there were butterflies in Sakuno's stomach or why she felt faintly ill. After all, when one considered his poor attempt to communicate with her yesterday, his lack of empathy was striking: Ryoma simply wasn't like Kawamura or Oishi and probably never would be.

Sakuno suddenly heard noises and she momentarily snapped out of her thoughts. She saw that she and Ryoma were inside the building and they were standing in a line along with a lot of other tennis players. Without needing to be told, Sakuno knew that she was at the registration desk. When Sakuno looked at the walls, she saw photos of old teams and a large board upon which was inscribed the records of who had won the Mixed Doubles Championship and in what year. Sakuno's eyes flitted to the bottom of the list where last year's winners were named, but to her disappointment, none of the names she saw were ones that she recognised.

Losing interest and feeling the need to take in everything in sight, Sakuno then busied herself by looking at the people around her. There were two lines for the registration: one for the open division, she guessed because everyone in that line looked so old and intimidating; and then there was the line she and Ryoma were standing in, the one for the juniors. But these juniors still looked very frightening to Sakuno because most of them were tall like Inui. She didn't want to talk to them at all. Actually, she felt very sick again.

"Uh... Ryoma-kun..." she said in a small voice. "Can I sit down? I feel a little dizzy."

Ryoma frowned. There was too much noise for him to hear exactly what Sakuno was saying but out of the corner of his eye, he'd noticed how pale she was getting.

"Sit down," he told her shortly. She nodded and broke off from the line so she could sit on a bench which was leaned against the wall.

Ryoma wasn't wearing his cap for fear of getting it wet earlier but if he had it on, he would have been tilting it to avert his eyes. He was concerned because if Sakuno wasn't feeling well, she wouldn't play good tennis. Stupid doubles. Just when he'd been almost having fun with it.

"Ah, Echizen-kun! Hi!" Someone was greeting him. Ryoma looked up and saw a girl who he recognised as Tachibana's little sister waving to him. She was standing further down the line next to the captain of Fudomine himself.

Hn. What a coincidence.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Echizen-kun. Isn't this a doubles tournament?" Tachibana An regarded him with wide, curious blue eyes. "Who's your partner?"

"Her." Ryoma pointed a finger at Sakuno, who was currently hurling up her breakfast into a handy plastic bag.

Tachibana Kippei assessed the situation calmly. "You should help her," he said, stating the obvious.

"I don't know how," Ryoma mumbled.

"Give her a pat on the back," Tachbana suggested. "Comrades are important."

Ryoma walked over to Sakuno and patted her once on the back. A second later, he returned to the line. He looked at the Tachibanas expectantly. They stared at him.

"I think you need help," An said finally.

Without any further ado, she went over to Sakuno and sat down next to her. Not only did she pat Sakuno's back more than once, she said words of encouragement the whole time. She was supportive and caring in the way only a girl can be supportive and caring. Oh well. At least Ryoma tried.

"How's Seigaku?" Tachibana asked to fill in the sudden silence. "Happy that you've won Nationals?"

Ryoma looked up and smirked.

"Well, make no mistake that Fudomine is aiming for the top next year," Tachibana said calmly. "Over half the original team will still be there next year; we'll have more than just a fighting chance."

"We'll see," Ryoma said.

Yes. Even though Nationals was done, the insatiable hunger that drove Fudomine still existed and its rivalry with Seigaku, however friendly it was, would never die away. Although in this tournament Tachibana and Ryoma were not representing their schools, for the sake of their pride in their teams, they vowed not to lose. Ryoma did not have to stand on the tennis court to feel that tangible rivalry grow between him and Tachibana; the two boys eyed each other and a silent battle was waged between them.

Just then, An and Sakuno returned to the line.

"I... I think I'm better now," Sakuno shakily announced.

"You'll be fine, Sakuno," An whispered. The two girls were already on first name terms.

Both Tachibana and Ryoma blinked rather stupidly. Due to interference, their battle had ended in a temporary stalemate.

* * *

Nomu Kenta squinted hard. He was scanning the crowd for a glimpse of Ryoma but he couldn't see the boy among the legion of tall boys and girls. Since the junior division of the championship was for under-sixteen year olds, Nomu was aware of how severely handicapped young Echizen was. He and that girl were not likely to make it past this preliminary qualifying round. The thought saddened Nomu immensely.

When the reigstration period was over, Nomu listened intently to the tournament officials who explained how the day would be run.

"A very high number of people signed up for the championship this year," a man who did not look remotely Asian said in near flawless Japanese, "so we must get through a lot of preliminary matches to decide on the top sixteen. The total number of applicants will be split into eight groups and for the next eight days matches will be held. Each group will have two finalists, so by the end of the eight days, all sixteen finalists will be declared. The matches will take place in knockout format: they will be in the form of one game tiebreaks. A five minute warm up is permitted before each match." Then he rambled on about umpires and tennis rules and etiquette that even Nomu, who knew practically nothing about tennis, was aware of. Finally, the man finished his speech by saying: "Play fairly, everyone, and be sure to thank our sponsor Ponta for this event!"

Yay.

Then the officials posted the tournament draw on the bulletin wall for everyone to see. Nomu felt giddy and excited like a little kid. Even though he was a busy man, he really wanted to watch Echizen as well as other talented players. While he absent-mindedly fingered his beloved Hello Kitty keyring, he eagerly scanned the draw for Ryoma's name. It took him a few seconds of frantic scrutinising to find it:

_Echizen R. and Ryuzaki S. vs. Tachibana K. and Tachibana A._

* * *

**Next chapter:** Epic tennis. Need I say more?


	6. Seigaku vs Fudomine

**Author's note: **The scoring in this match was really confusing my beta, so I thought I should explain it in case it confuses everyone else to. Basically, as the tennis official explained last chapter, it's a one game tiebreak, which has a completely different scoring system from regular tennis. Instead of counting points in Love, 15, 30 and 40, you just uses 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. In a doubles tiebreak, the service changes after every point and the first side to win seven points wins. However, this doesn't apply if the score is 6-6. If the score reaches 6-6, the side which makes a two-point advantage wins. For example, 9-7 is a winning score and so is 10-8 and (as happens in PoT) 129-127.

The reason why they're doing a tiebreak instead of a regular match is because it takes too long to do the latter.

Now onto the tennis match of DOOM.

**Chapter 6 – Seigaku vs. Fudomine**

The problem with girls, Ryoma thought, was that they just weren't competitive enough.

Sakuno had been pretty okay until the draw was put up; then she looked as if she was going to start puking all over again. Apparently, it was because she didn't want to turn against her new-found friend An. That logic made no sense to Ryoma. It wasn't that Sakuno was that bad a player; she had improved quite a lot in recent days.

And yet... for the first time, Ryoma did not feel confident in his ability to win.

* * *

After the warm up, the chair umpire spun a racquet in order to decide who was going to serve first and it turned it to be Tachibana Kippei. Ryoma promptly stated that he would be the first to receive. Because of the way tennis players rotated their serves and positioning on the court, Tachibana and Ryoma would serve to each other throughout the entire match. Ryoma was so nice to Sakuno, wasn't he? Sakuno could probably deal with An if she played like she played yesterday or the day before that.

Well, no time to think about that, anyway. The point was starting, and Ryoma sprang to his feet as Tachibana tossed the ball.

BAM! He hit it.

And the ball went over the net _fast_. As expected of a Nationals level player, Ryoma thought. A few months ago, he wouldn't have been able to reach such a serve at all. Now, though...

There. He returned it solidly. What was more, he'd aimed it for An's backhand corner. He could run to the net and finish off the point early.

Instead of trying to hit Ryoma's shot on the full, An darted to Ryoma's left-hand side; she stopped when she was directly opposite Sakuno. Meanwhile, the ball bounced once and Tachibana was there to take it from the baseline. With a sharp swing of his backhand, he sent the ball crosscourt towards Sakuno. It was a high ball with a lot of topspin – but it wasn't high enough to be considered a defensive lob. Momo could probably have taken it with his Dunk Smash, but Sakuno was too short... Yet she was bending her knees for a jump anyway...

"That ball's mine!" Ryoma yelled and he sprinted as fast as he could to Sakuno's side of the court. Tachibana's lob was a trap – Sakuno would make an error trying to reach it. But... could Ryoma himself reach it?

Sakuno span around and watched as Ryoma took off with all the speed he could muster. The ball had its first bounce on the very corner of the doubles court. It was a fairly high bounce, and the ball kept on travelling past the baseline.

_Damn it...! _Gritting his teeth, Ryoma took a diving leap for the ball. Still not enough, he realised as he was in midair. Time for improvisation then. Landing on his right arm, Ryoma bent his elbow and pivoted his body around until his left arm was in a position to hit the ball. His on-the-sport acrobatics would have done Eiji proud, but Ryoma's body simply wasn't used to such things. After he hit the shot, Ryoma's elbow collapsed beneath him and it took him precious seconds to get back on to his feet.

Precious seconds he did not have.

It turned out that Ryoma's shot did not make it far past the net. An watched the ball's trajectory and eased into a position to smash it. She did not need to jump; her feet were planted firmly on the ground. Sakuno let out a feeble squeak and tried to return the smash, but it was too fast a shot so she missed altogether.

"1-0, Tachibana pair," the chair umpire announced. Then, peering at Ryoma, who was standing up and dusting himself, he asked, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Ryoma mumbled. He was somewhat miffed. All that effort he had expended and he and Sakuno had still lost the point. The Tachibanas were good, he had to admit. They had outsmarted him by switching their formation earlier, and Tachibana's offensive lob shot was difficult to achieve through a one-fisted backhand. Ryoma hated to think that he and Sakuno were outclassed.

Meanwhile, Sakuno stood by the net staring down at her feet. Ryoma did not know what she was thinking but he was fairly certain they were not happy thoughts.

He tapped her on the shoulder with his racquet. "Ryuzaki, it's your serve," he pointed out.

Sakuno blinked. "O-Oh, all right."

She double-faulted.

* * *

The match was not the only one taking place in the indoor tennis stadium. There were about twenty other matches taking place in the vicinity. Not many words were exchanged between line calls, yet the sounds of tennis balls being hit and shoes squeaking against the rubber surface courts was definitely loud enough to be considered irritating. At least, that was what Shiba thought as she took her photos.

"Inoue-senpai," she whined, "I don't know where to look. There's too many matches happening at once."

But Inoue was untroubled by Shiba's frustrations. He was fixated on something else. "Look," he pointed. "That match is already finished."

"What?!" Shiba gaped. "But... it's been around three minutes."

She glanced sharply where Inoue was pointing. And that was when she discovered that he was right. On one of the courts, the four players were already shaking hands at the net, a definite sign that the match was finished. Two sixteen year olds shaking the hands of two twelve year olds, who were about the same height as Ryoma and Sakuno.

"I feel sorry for those twelve year olds," Shiba said with a ready sigh.

Inoue shook his head. "They won," he stated.

"You're kidding me!"

"I was watching out of the corner of my eye," Inoue explained. "They won completely through service aces and returns."

Shiba eyed the twelve year olds as they stepped off the court. They were obviously twin siblings and had a distinct look to them, both sleek in figure and sporting purple hair. The boy's hair was short but the girl's was right down to her thigh. They both had bright golden eyes, the colour of honey.

"What's their names?" Shiba asked curiously as she raised her camera to take a picture of them.

Inoue promptly glanced at the draw. "Kidomiya Akio and Akira. Akio is the boy and Akira is the girl." He said grimly, "If Echizen faces them in doubles, there's no way he'd win."

"That can't be..." Shiba sighed heavily and lowered her camera.

Ryoma couldn't lose... right...?

* * *

_Elsewhere..._

"Hoi! Hoi!" exclaimed an exuberant Eiji when he heard Tezuka's phone beep. "What's the score?"

Tezuka wordlessly drew the phone out of his pocket. Ryuzaki-sensei had promised to send Tezuka text messages of the score so that he and the others who could not come to the tournament were updated on Ryoma's progress. Naturally, when Ryuzaki-sensei's first text came, all the regulars plus the freshmen trio and Tomoka eagerly listened to Tezuka read out the message in his deep, baritone voice.

_'Tachibana pair leads.'_

"Tachibana pair?" Oishi repeated, confused. "As in, Fudomine's Tachibana Kippei and his sister?"

"That's what it seems," Fuji replied. His eyes were closed, yet he was wearing a slight frown.

"Does anyone want sushi?" Kawamura piped up.

They were all in Kawamura's sushi restaurant. Kawamura had just walked out from the kitchen carrying a large tray of freshly made sushi.

"Yes, please!" Momo and Eiji called out in unison. They ravenously fell onto the sushi like a pair of hungry vultures.

The others tucked in at a more leisurely pace.

"A sibling combination has a slight advantage over a normal pair," Inui stated as he pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Siblings know each other very well and can easily adjust their playing style to suit each other."

"I wonder if Yuuta will pair up with me," Fuji interjected randomly.

"Dish shushi ish really mfff good!" Momo said, equally randomly and with his mouth full.

"Gee... thanks!" Kawamura answered bashfully while he scratched the back of his head. "I made it myself."

"Um, I don't think we're on the same train of thought here," Katsuo pointed out hesitantly. The other freshmen nodded along with him.

Oishi, the sensible egg-head, nodded. "You're right." He turned to Inui. "Inui, how much data do you have on the Tachibanas? It could come in useful."

"I do not collect data on girls," Inui said plainly.

"That's mean," Eiji remarked, "calling Tachibana Kippei a girl."

"I was referring to his sister."

"Oh," said Eiji, feeling stupid.

Meanwhile, Kaidoh and Tezuka sat there with growing headaches.

Suddenly, Tezuka's phone beeped once more. Another text message from Ryuzaki-sensei. '4-1,' it read.

And just like that, the aura surrounding the proceedings changed. Ryoma and Sakuno were really struggling, it seemed. In fact, they were edging closer to being knocked out after the first match. Ryoma had never performed so poorly before.

"Well, this doesn't mean as much as Nationals anyway," Horio said with a shrug.

"What will we say to Ryoma-kun if he loses?" Kachiroh wondered aloud.

"Oh, come on!" Tomoka said with an irritatingly false sort of brightness. "Ryoma-sama will manage to pull off a miraculous win from behind. That's what he always does."

Yet she trailed into silence soon after saying that and sighed heavily.

So did everyone else.

Kaidoh let out an abrupt, low hiss.

"Have you no faith?" he demanded with a scowl. He sounded as gruff and ticked-off as he normally did. The freshman, who were all afraid of Kaidoh, jumped out of their seats in alarm.

"K-Kaidoh-senpai!" Horio exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

Kaidoh exhaled, sounding exactly like a viper that was about to pounce on its hapless victims. The poor guy just couldn't help but be scary to freshman eyes.

"The brat is strong," Kaidoh said, obviously referring to Echizen. "And so's the girl."

That was the first time Sakuno was even mentioned in the conversation. It was strange to hear Kaidoh acknowledge her out of all people, but then, an honest hard-working fellow like him could readily identify a kindred spirit. Sakuno had the intention, and Kaidoh could sense that.

"That's right," Oishi said softly. "We mustn't lose hope."

Everyone looked at each other mutely, then...

"SEIGAKU! FIGHT!"

What an unearthly racket, Tezuka thought. Yet he _sort of _smiled. Sort of.

* * *

Meanwhile, things weren't boding well for Ryoma and Sakuno. At 4-1 against them, it was Sakuno's serve again. She stood with trembling legs at the centre mark and shakily tossed the ball into the air. The toss too far to the right, Ryoma noted with his trained eyes. If Sakuno had any brains, she would be catching the ball and starting again.

_**Pok.**_

But _no_...!

The ball went straight into the net.

"No... no..." Sakuno moaned. Her voice was cracking slightly.

Ryoma stared in disbelief. Could he see _tears _begin to well up in Sakuno's eyes? The last thing Ryoma wanted to see was people crying.

Ryoma thus reacted in the only way he could.

"Mada mada da ne."

Sakuno looked up and forcefully blinked the tears out of her eyes. She obviously didn't want to be seen crying either.

"Your problem is thinking that you suck," Ryoma went on. "Mada mada da ne," he repeated and turned back to face his opponents.

Sakuno blinked with surprise. Was this another one of Ryoma's attempts to be nice to with her? She was starting to pick up on it a little now.

"By the way," Ryoma called out smoothly as he eased himself into his net position, "you're holding up the point."

Sakuno went as red as a tomato.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Here I go!"

Without any delay, she tossed the ball into the air and went for her second serve. The toss was right on target, Ryoma noted with satisfaction, and so was her service action.

"Hyaaa!" With a surprisingly unladylike grunt, Sakuno suddenly charged towards the net after hitting her serve.

_Serve and volley? _Ryoma's eyes became slightly wider. Banji had taught Sakuno to use the baseline formation on her serve, not to go recklessly charging the net.

An reflected Sakuno's serve straight back crosscourt and it bounced right near Sakuno's feet. The perfect counter against the serve and volley – the point was lost now, surely.

Sakuno didn't stop charging. Even though she couldn't hit the ball before it bounced like she would for a true volley, she lowered her racquet to hit a shot anyway. The ball was only at ankle level when it hit the strings of Sakuno's racquet and soared over the net. The forward momentum of Sakuno's charge sent the ball sailing right past An. It was a clean winner.

Ryoma had seen much more spectacular shots in his time, but even so, he was duly impressed. Sakuno had just hit the half-volley, a shot which was halfway between being a volley and a ground shot. In other words, she had just hit the simplest form of the Super Rising Shot. Considering Sakuno's level of experience...

"Not bad," he said, and meant it.

"T-That must have been a fluke," Sakuno said while blushing heavily.

It probably was, Ryoma thought. _Oh well. _

* * *

The score updates kept coming to Tezuka's phone. '4-2,' it read, then, a minute later: '4-3.'

"This is really exciting!" Eiji commented. "They're making a comeback!"

He wasn't the only one who wanted to see the action live. Everyone was forced to sit and to visualise how each point must have played out, but without any commentary, it was difficult. Still, it was a mesmerising activity, and whenever Tezuka's phone beeped, its signal caused much excitement.

According to the scores, the Tachibanas were unwilling to let Ryoma and Sakuno make their comeback. The score became 5-4 and then went on to 6-4 Tachibana's way.

"Match point!" the freshmen trio gasped.

It was agonising waiting for the next text to arrive. In those few tense minutes, nobody said a word. They had all braced themselves for two possible messages: '6-5' or 'they lost.' Which would it be? Which would it be?

A minute passed, then two... Did something happen to Ryuzaki-sensei or was the rally really that long? Just as Oishi was starting to panic, the text came: '6-5.' Everyone in Kawamura sushi restaurant breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"But there's still one more match point," Kachiroh pointed out.

And the tension built up all over again.

* * *

Ryoma bounced the ball, preparing for his serve. There was quite a crowd gathering around his court, he noticed. This was the only match that was still going and, according to protocol, no other matches could start until the current round was finished. The pressure was entirely on Ryoma, but he could handle it.

Gripping his racquet tightly with his right hand, he tossed the ball high into the air. Tachibana had by now demonstrated that he could return the Twist Serve easily and that worried Ryoma somewhat, since he was relying on his serve to keep up in the match.

Wait... he had an idea.

Meanwhile, Nomu watched from the sidelines and was actually biting his nails as Ryoma hit his serve. _Come on, Echizen-kun, _he thought earnestly. He saw Echizen's serve land near Tachibana's feet. The ball bounced and then... _it span away from Tachibana_.

Nomu absolutely gaped. On the court, the ball suddenly twisted and jerk around and it spiralled back towards Tachibana's face. Tachibana dodged out of the way so that the ball hit the wall behind him rather than his chin.

"Mada mada da ne," Ryoma said, for he had served an ace.

Tachibana regarded Ryoma calmly.

"What was that? A variation of the Twist?" he asked in an even tone.

"Something like that," Ryoma replied. An frowned at him.

The chair umpire looked like he was struggling for words for a moment. Finally, he managed to gasp out the score: "6-6."

The comeback was almost complete, Ryoma thought with satisfaction. Hearing the usual gasps of awe from the onlookers was a nice touch to the drama of the moment.

While he was standing around waiting for the next point to begin, he heard Sakuno's voice pipe up beside him.

"This is fun, isn't it, Ryoma-kun?"

_Fun..._

"Yeah," said Ryoma.

He looked straight at the chair umpire, who was in conversation with one of the tennis officials. Was the next point being delayed for some reason? Glancing at Tachibana and his sister, Ryoma noted from their facial expressions that they were as nonplussed as he was.

At length, the official walked away and the chair umpire spoke up to the four players on the court:

"I was just told that this match has been holding up the round for too long. Uh..." The umpire scratched the back of his head, as if he felt the situation was out of his depth. "So what I mean to say is that a deciding point has been proposed; that is, the next point is a sudden death elimination point, but only if that's all right with the players."

"You mean," An said, "whoever wins the next point wins the match?"

The chair umpire grinned sheepishly. "That's right. Do you agree to go through with that?"

Tachibana looked at his sister and the two of them nodded. Ryoma looked at Sakuno, who had her lips pursed and was frowning in thought. Was she going to object?

Sakuno shook her head. "Let's do it," she said firmly.

Ryoma looked at her with a feeling of relief. _She's finally realised..._

Upon hearing Sakuno's words, the umpire cleared his throat politely and raised his arm. "All right then. This is the final point. Miss Tachibana An to serve!"

* * *

**Next chapter: **Yeah. Like I'm going to spoil it. Hopefully, Ryoma won't be evil and instigate a 40-minute long point like with the Koshimae dude. Lawls.

(That variation of the Twist Serve used in this chapter? I stole that from some random OVA. Cheers.)


	7. One last shot

Reply to anonymous reviews:

**Lady Aduka: **You're right about the OVA. Plus, you get cookies for all the other compliments.

**cj: **Thanks for the review. Hope you'll enjoy this update. =D

**123fnaly: **Guess what, my swell friend – you are the eightieth reviewer! Cheers! (I wonder what I'll do if I reach 100, hm...) Anyway, on to the chapter.

**Chapter 7 – One last shot**

It was about to begin – that final climatic point which would decide the winner of the match. An took her position to serve and then she tossed the ball with a heated cry."Yaaah!"

Sakuno returned it on the rise and thus instigated the ultimate rally.

_So... _Ryuzaki-sensei thought, _it all comes down to this._ She would be proud no matter what the result. To witness Sakuno's growth as a player was certainly humbling. But Ryoma... other than using the Twist Serve, he had not really used any of his special moves. Was it because...?

Ryuzaki-sensei frowned. It was only a suspicion, but she'd held it ever since that day Banji had come over.

_Ryoma could no longer open the Muga no Kyochi._

* * *

Tezuka sat with his arms folded, deep in thought. There was nothing else to do but sit and ponder things until Ryuzaki-sensei's text came.

So Tezuka thought hard about Ryoma. He just knew, like Ryuzaki-sensei did, that something was different with the freshman.

_Echizen, _he thought, _there are more doors to open than just the Muga no Kyochi_. From here, there were two distinct paths Ryoma could take. The first was to climb up the rungs and reach the state of self-actualisation once more. If the doors of the Muga no Kyochi had to be opened in succession, then Ryoma could only do it in singles, where the only feelings he had to deal with were his own.

Besides that, there was the second path, one that did not involve Muga no Kyochi. But at the end of it, Ryoma might well gain something equally as precious.

_What will you do, Echizen? _Tezuka wondered. _What path will you take from here?_

He instinctively felt that a lot of it came down the result of Echizen's current match.

* * *

Nomu couldn't take his eyes off of the match.

The rally was so fast, as if on the court everyone's hearts were thumping with adrenaline. Nomu could feel that very adrenaline resonating through the air and could not help but be affected by it. He gripped his Hello Kitty keyring so tightly that it got bent out of proportion. Then again, it was a product of China.

The point was, though, that Nomu thought that the rally going on was utterly exhilarating. Sakuno hit the ball solidly to An, who sent a fast one down the line, only to be blocked by a quick-footed Ryoma, who rammed the ball crosscourt. An got to it and hit a lob over Ryoma's head, which Sakuno returned with a forehand drive down the centre of the court. This all happened very quickly and it just went on and on, increasing to breakneck speed.

Little did Nomu know that this was a very half-hearted rally indeed... for the Prince of Tennis.

* * *

As he was deftly hitting the ball towards one of corners, Ryoma abruptly called out, "Hmm! You may as well show your real tennis here, Tachibana-san!"

A shadow seemed to come over Tachibana's face. "Big brother?" An piped up questioningly just after she returned Ryoma's shot. She knew about her brother's violent tennis... Echizen couldn't possibly be trying to goad him into using it, was he?!

Apparently, he was. "How about it? I'll lift my game if you lift yours."

At any given point in the match, Tachibana could have crushed Sakuno mercilessly and ended everything. He could even have crushed Ryoma with his violent tennis. Yet he had chosen not to for the sake of morality.

But now, this was where it would end.

"No," said Tachibana and instead of hitting a forehand drive, he sliced the ball instead.

As Tachibana was hitting the ball, Ryoma began to skid on the court and then he leaped up, momentum behind him.

"Drive B!" Sakuno gasped. It wasn't Muga no Kyochi but it was still a shot that was synonymous with Echizen Ryoma.

Hearing that, Ryoma smirked. "I'm not giving up on my tennis!" He swung and hit the ball. And there it was: the distinct shape of the Drive B bounce – straight down the centre of the court. Nonreturnable.

Ryoma landed on his feet, composed. The point was done.

"Game and match to Echizen and Ryuzaki!" the umpire announced and with that, all of the spectators burst into polite applause. The sound echoed throughout the room, seeming louder than it actually was.

Even at the obvious signs of acknowledgement of a good match, Ryoma felt far from sated. He wanted to go higher in tennis, higher than he'd ever flown before...

"... Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno gingerly tapped him on the shoulder.

He had that faraway, determined look in his eyes again – and every time Sakuno saw it, she knew that Ryoma would always be out of her reach. There was always that aloof facet of him that she, a mere girl, would never understand.

"We have to shake our opponents' hands," she said softly.

The only verbal response she earned from him was a non-committal grunt. Then he walked up to the net and shook Tachibana's hand.

As Sakuno watched him, a sudden thought occurred to her, hitting her like a harsh gust of wind.

He'd go back to playing singles after this tournament, wouldn't he? Right now, he was just using her to achieve his own ends. Afterwards, he'd never play doubles with her again. That was the absolute truth.

"Ryoma-kun, I..." she began.

He turned his head and looked at her. "Are you coming?"

"Y-Yes!" It was no time to think morbid thoughts anyway.

She hastened to join Ryoma at the net so that she could shake hands with the Tachibanas too.

Tachibana Kippei's hand was hard, firm and calloused. "Good match," he said gallantly. Like any good loser in tennis, he didn't say much more than what was actually necessary.

Tachibana An's hand was soft and warm, yet there was some firmness to it as well. Her lips were curled into a smile and bright, cheerful eyes regarded Ryoma and Sakuno mirthfully. "You know," she remarked, "when I first saw Echizen-kun, I thought, 'Geez, this kid's great at singles but he'll never be a doubles player.' Guess I was proved wrong, huh?" An laughed.

"I didn't like doubles," Ryoma said simply and shoved his hands into his pockets.

He was speaking in past tense, not present tense, Sakuno realised. All of a sudden, she felt her throat constrict, as if there was a lump in it.

_Ryoma-kun, _she thought, _what will you do?_

* * *

Tezuka looked at his phone. For a long while, he didn't say anything.

At last, the tension became unbearable for the others in Kawamura's sushi restaurant.

"Well? Did they win or not?" Momo demanded.

Tezuka nodded once.

There was a sound of chairs being abruptly shifted. Eiji stood up and cheered.

"YAY! O'CHIBI WON!" he hollered as loud as he could holler and started hugging the nearest freshman, who turned out to be Kachiroh. Eiji personally thought that Kachiroh was the next most adorable freshman after Ryoma, so that was all good. Kachiroh went very red with embarrassment indeed.

What followed next was absolute ruckus. The more boisterous males in the gathering started banging on the tables as they gave Ryoma the standing ovation he would never hear. While Kawamura worried about the mess he would have to clean up later, Eiji (or was it Fuji?) somehow ended up passing him a tennis racquet, and Taka-san... well... everyone knew what Taka-san plus racquet equalled...

"BURNING! HORA! HORA! THAT ECHIZEN DID A GREAT-O JOB!"

"And Sakuno too!" Tomoka piped in, because no one was going to forget Ryoma's remarkable young partner now.

Amid the noise and general kerfuffle in the place, nobody really heard Tezuka say in his level tone, "It's the end of one thing and the start of something new."

Except for Fuji. "Tezuka?" The tensai shot his captain a curious glance.

Tezuka didn't reply.

* * *

Ryoma and Sakuno's winning streak continued. To Sakuno's relief, the second round competitors were not as tough as the Tachibanas. Ryoma took no prisoners and every serve or return by him resulted in him winning the point. Sakuno was delegated to a supporting role but she didn't mind because her stamina was starting to wear thin as the day went on.

Curiously enough, the Tachibanas remained to watch the proceedings. While Tachibana stood there wordlessly with a tranquil sort of demeanour, An complemented him by enthusiastically cheering on Sakuno every time she hit a good shot. She'd sometimes cheer on Ryoma too, but she figured the guy was perfectly capable of managing the mental side of his game by this stage of his career.

"Echizen-kun sure is smooth, though," An randomly remarked with a mischevious wink, "getting the girl like that." She was referring to Sakuno, of course.

"Hn." Like a true man, Tachibana showed no interest in that kind of rubbish.

An rolled her eyes.

Of course, An and Tachibana weren't the only ones who were eagerly watching Ryoma and Sakuno. While he had still not picked up the courage to actually talk to Ryoma, Nomu Kenta remained an avid watcher from the sidelines. There was, after all, still a chance that his favourite freshman would not make it past the preliminaries. Today, only two pairs would make it. So fixated was Nomu on Ryoma, he did not notice another pair plow their way through their matches with ease.

The reporters, on the other hand, had been watching them the whole time.

"The Kidomiya twins: Akira and Akio!"

Ryoma and Sakuno were incredibly lucky to be on the opposite end of the draw from the Kidomiya twins, Inoue thought. That meant that the two pairs would not have to face off today. Even though Inoue had not seen any of the other players who would compete for the next week or so, he at that moment felt almost certain that the Kidomiya twins would go on to win the entire tournament. Ryoma and Sakuno had temporary relief for now but, judging by the fact that they had such difficulty with their first match, their chances were getting slimmer.

Inoue sighed.

Shiba broke in, "Inoue-senpai, don't you think it's funny that the two pairs guaranteed a place in the tournament are all twelve years old?"

Inoue's eyes followed the distinct purple-haired Kidomiyas as they walked away with an older man (their father perhaps?) who seemed to be deep in conversation with them. Inoue could see the man's lips moving but from the distance, he could not hear what was being said. He turned back to Shiba.

"It is funny," Inoue agreed. "Those twins would certainly be in seventh grade, but I haven't seen them take part in any other junior tournaments beside this one."

"You mean," said Shiba, puzzled, "they didn't join the tennis club at their school?"

Inoue nodded. He was certain of it.

* * *

"Well, how do you feel?"

At the front lobby, Ryuzaki-sensei gazed, smiling, at her granddaughter, who was just stepping into the room with Ryoma. It was mid-afternoon and finally, all of the matches of that day were done. Ryuzaki-sensei understood that the day had been very tiring indeed. Sakuno smiled feebly and then all of a sudden her legs gave away and she fell into her grandmother's arms.

Ryuzaki-sensei said kindly, "When we get home, you can rest all you want, Sakuno. The preliminaries are over and the real event won't start until two weeks." Then she added, "I'm very proud of you."

Ryoma, meanwhile, looked faintly bored.

"Echizen."

He looked up. Although she was still supporting Sakuno's limp form, Ryuzaki-sensei was peering at him. It was as if she was trying to read him, to analyse him. It certainly was a strange sort of look that she was giving him.

"What?" he asked.

Ryuzaki-sensei opened her mouth, looking like she was about to ask an important question.

"Ah! Echizen-kun!"

An interruption. Okay.

Ryoma turned around and was face-to-face with Nomu Kenta. The quaint, middle-aged man had an ecstatic look on his face and was holding an unopened can of Ponta in his hand. Nomu had finally decided to talk to Ryoma face-to-face.

Ryuzaki-sensei scowled.

"I'm so glad I finally got to meet you," Nomu babbled. "I mean, Echizen-kun, you play very, very well."

"Who are you?" Ryoma asked bluntly.

Nomu went pink. "Ah, sorry! I'm Nomu Kenta and I'm in charge of the Ponta corporation. Here." He handed Ryoma the can he was holding. "Take it for free. You'll win a lot of these if you're the champion of the tournament."

"Thanks." Ryoma didn't quite understand why Nomu was so enthusiastic but he was getting free Ponta so he wasn't complaining.

Sakuno stirred in her Ryuzaki-sensei's arms and her eyes fluttered open slightly. She heard what Nomu said next.

"Before I let you drink I have two questions to ask you."

Ryoma paused in his act of opening the can.

Nomu cleared his throat. "Which do you like better? Ponta or Coca Cola?"

That was an easy question. "Ponta," Ryoma said.

Nomu beamed. "And how about this?" he went on. "Ponta or your doubles partner?"

Sakuno's eyes snapped open.

Ryoma blithely answered as promptly as he had for the previous question. "Ponta." Having answered the two questions, he opened the can and started sipping away.

Nomu, Sakuno and Ryuzaki-sensei all reacted in very different ways. Nomu smiled because he had now figured out Ryoma's main motivation for playing in a mixed doubles tournament. Although he didn't say it in so many words, it was pretty obvious even to Nomu that he was doing it for the year's supply of free Ponta. How much, then, would Ryoma do for Ponta? A shrewd businessman, Nomu was eager to find out the answer.

As for Ryuzaki-sensei, she was utterly nonplussed. She had been about to ask Ryoma exactly how he felt about Sakuno until Nomu had arrived. But then, Ryuzaki-sense got her answer anyway.

And so did Sakuno.

How depressing it was to lose out to a can of soft drink. Seriously.

* * *

**Next chapter: **Who will Ryoma end up with in the end? The PontaxRyomaxSakuno love triangle deepens! … And what happens when Karupin is added to the mix?

This story is a romantic comedy for a reason, you know.


	8. Emily!

Reply to anonymous reviews:

**KC**: You seem to have analysed the story very well so far, hey! You seem to know it better than I do, ha ha. At any rate, thanks for the review and I hope the rest of the story won't disappoint.

To all readers: If you can figure out which anime I'm spoofing with this chapter, gimme a shout. You may get a cookie.

**Chapter 8 – Emily!**

Ryoma never ended up apologising to Sakuno for being an insensitive jerk. Actually, his relationship with his doubles partner remained static for over a week, during which time training went on at its usual brisk pace.

"You're not covering the middle!" Oishi would yell as he hit a heavy forehand down the centre of the court. Oishi could be surprisingly firm at times and that day, he was being a tough instructor indeed.

Sakuno fumbled for Oishi's shot and missed. Then Ryoma went for it. He had been standing at the very far left of the court – too far away to reach the ball. He missed and ended up scraping his clothes on the hard court.

As Ryoma stood up and dusted himself, he considered the current situation. Pretty much everyone in the tennis club had congratulated Ryoma for his "spectacular" win in doubles. Those same people probably expected that between now and the tournament day that he and Sakuno would have achieved Synchro. That wasn't happening. While their combination had not gone backwards, it was not improving in leaps and bounds like it had in the beginning. Truthfully, it had reached an impervious standstill.

Ryoma was beginning to get frustrated at how _slowly _things were developing. After another day with no progress between him and Sakuno, Ryoma had almost had enough.

"Let's go, Ryuzaki," he said to her when practice was over. He had made up his mind that he was going to walk her home and suss it out with her. He was too obstinate to give up on his dream for Ponta.

"Ah, yes." Always sweet and forgiving, Sakuno obliged without a murmur against Ryoma.

Meanwhile, Oishi and Eiji watched the two freshmen leave from the gates. Eiji seemed contemplative.

"I wonder why o'chibi and coach's granddaughter's combination hasn't been improving that much lately," Eiji thought aloud.

"It's not that Echizen isn't trying," Oishi answered. "You can see that he wants it to work."

Eiji pondered that.

"Heh, but if o'chibi _really_ got to know her...!" Eiji winked.

"You know," Oishi said with a shake of his head, "that sort of thing doesn't really help a doubles combination, I've heard."

"Why not?"

"Well..." Oishi considered. "Couples fight, you know? Their combination is less likely to be consistent."

"Oh," said Eiji. "So we _don't _want to see o'chibi get together with coach's granddaughter. That's a bummer."

Oishi laughed nervously because he really didn't know what to say to that.

* * *

"Ryoma-kun..."

Hearing Sakuno's timid voice sounding behind him, Ryoma tilted his head so he could face his doubles partner. The girl preferred to walk behind him rather than beside him for some inexplicable reason.

Seeing that she had Ryoma's attention, Sakuno's cheeks became slightly pink. "Ryoma-kun, is it my fault?" she asked finally. "That we haven't been improving so much lately, I mean."

Ryoma thought about that. It was true that Sakuno was no longer a complete beginner at tennis. Too often, tennis players quickly reached an intermediate stage and then found it difficult to break into their true potential – and that was when progress would invariably slow down. Even as Ryoma considered this, he knew it wasn't the case. Sakuno's improvement at tennis had remained steady over the past few days. "No," he said finally.

Sakuno breathed a sigh of relief. She had noticed the slowing down in her doubles play with Ryoma too, and it had always been characteristic of her to blame herself before pointing the finger at others. Hers was a self-destructing mentality and though she'd been showing more confidence in her skills lately, she still had a long way to go.

"But..." Sakuno protested, "To be honest..."

Ignoring her, he was just turning his head back around in front of him so he could actually look where he was going... and then she spoke again.

"... It's like you've got this shell around you..."

A sudden wave of annoyance came over Ryoma. "Hmm, so it's all _my _fault?" he demanded.

"I'm sorry," Sakuno squeaked helplessly and retreated further from him.

The anger flushed away from Ryoma as quickly as it had come. "Whatever," he sighed and went on walking.

A few minutes passed in silence and then he was almost home.

That was when he heard a noise: a cat's meowing. Looking up sharply, Ryoma saw girl in a high school uniform crossing the road and she was holding a cat in her arms, a fluffy, white, Himalayan cat -

No, it couldn't be.

"Karupin!" Ryoma yelled, his eyes wide. He could see the cat's head shoot up and then its eyes met with Ryoma's. It was Karupin, all right.

But what was his cat doing in some strange girl's arms?

"Ryoma-kun?" Behind him, Sakuno called out his name questioningly, evidently puzzled at his outburst. He paid no attention to her. Instead, he ran ahead to confront the stranger who had accosted his cat.

She was obviously from one of the local high schools, judging by her uniform, which consisted of a brown-plaited skirt and matching blazer. In addition, there was a black tennis bag strapped over her shoulder. She wasn't holding it because her hands were already busy keeping Karupin restrained in her arms. The girl was short and she had a round sort of face and bushy red hair which was tied up in a cutesy pink ribbon. She would have been somewhat attractive had it not been for the fact that she was glaring haughtily down at Ryoma. _"What do you want?" _her angry eyes asked him.

"That's my cat," Ryoma stated with a heavy frown.

"How dare you!" the girl fumed. "This is Emily! I just found her walking along the street here so I rescued her."

In response, the cat meowed louder and struggled harder against the girl's vice-like grip.

Just then, a boy appeared from around the corner. He took one look at the girl and the cat and simply rolled his eyes.

"Nodoka, what have I told you about taking things which aren't yours?" he said furiously. He stomped closer.

Ryoma observed the newcomer through half-closed eyes. He was also in uniform – for the same school as the girl, no doubt, judging by the matching colours. He, too, was carrying a tennis bag. He was about as tall as Tezuka and his eyelashes were a bit long for a boy. What Ryoma was looking at was a blatant pretty boy, complete with the sparkling eyes and the slim, almost feminine features. At the moment, though, a charming smile was the furthest thing from his face.

"Nodoka!" he repeated the name with the same severity and the girl responded.

"But I rescued this cat!" she whined. "I found Emily so she's mine!"

Ryoma couldn't quite understand why the girl was calling Karupin 'Emily' out of all stupid Western names. Emily was a girl's name.

"I'm sorry," the high school boy said to Ryoma. "Whenever Nodoka sees something she thinks is cute, she takes it and gives it a name and she thinks it's hers."

That explained the whole 'Emily' thing, Ryoma thought. Still...

"Just give me my cat back," he said bluntly.

Meanwhile, a quivering Sakuno anxiously watched the scene play out. Ryoma was talking rudely to high schoolers! He could get in trouble. This situation was like when she'd first met Ryoma... Oh dear. She let out a feeble sigh.

The high school boy must have had superhuman hearing because he heard Sakuno's little feminine sigh from about ten feet away. He turned his head, noticed the pale-faced Sakuno watching from the background and a smile began to play upon his lips.

He spoke. "Fair pigtailed girl! What is your name?" And he came closer to Sakuno and deliberately picked up her trembling hands.

Both Ryoma and Sakuno stared in absolute shock. In Sakuno's case, she blushed very hard. It was the first time a boy had ever flirted with her with such conviction.

The girl who was holding Karupin – Nodoka – clucked her tongue and shook her head.

"That Kenichi! All he thinks about is hitting on little girls!" She scowled, before going back to stroking "Emily" again.

Ryoma wondered if all high schoolers were so mentally retarded.

"You realise that cat is male," Ryoma said because that was his biggest concern.

"No!" Nodoka wailed, hugging Karupin closer to her bosom. "Emily is a girl!"

"But those are clearly male organs," Ryoma said as he pointed at Karupin's lower body.

Sakuno was a little caught up in things, so all she heard from Ryoma was 'male organs'. She went even redder than before. Kenichi noticed.

"I'll show you _my _male organs," he said.

Sakuno promptly fainted.

Ryoma immediately swung around to face Kenichi. It disgusted him that a high schooler could say something so suggestive to a twelve year old. It was so wrong on so many levels! Even his father had more decency than that. Not to mention that the twelve year old girl in question was Ryoma's doubles partner, so he obviously cared about her well-being.

Kenichi didn't seem to care overmuch about that, as he was a little preoccupied with Sakuno fainting.

"I must give this pigtailed girl mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!" he exclaimed before his head bobbed down, fast approaching Sakuno's slightly parted lips.

BAM.

He was hit on the head with a tennis ball. His ardour doused, Kenichi glared at Ryoma. The twelve year old was still holding his racquet, having just served a fast ball at Kenichi's head.

"Che, you're annoying," Ryoma said frostily. He started throwing and catching a second tennis ball, looking ready to toss that up and serve it too.

_This kid...! _Kenichi frowned. _He's something else._

"You're really arrogant for a junior high kid," Nodoka remarked. "You're so not cute at all."

The corners of Ryoma's mouth slowly lifted. He was smirking.

"Huh?!" Nodoka looked furious. "What's with that look? I'm not going to hand over Emily if that's what you think!"

Ryoma turned and threw the ball he'd been holding at Kenichi. It was an underhanded throw and Kenichi easily caught the ball.

"You play tennis, don't you?" Ryoma said. "Wanna teach me some doubles?"

Kenichi blinked and looked at the ball for a moment before gazing at Ryoma with a serious face. "What for?" he asked.

"If you think you're so good with girls, then why don't you play mixed doubles?" Ryoma simply went on smirking. "If Ryuzaki and I win, I get to keep 'Emily'." He laid a heavy amount of stress on the name Nodoka had dubbed for Karupin, as if he was making fun of it.

Nodoka looked as if she was about to protest but Kenichi cut her off.

"And if Nodoka and I win, you will let me kiss the pigtailed girl," he insisted. "She will be the one hundredth girl who I have kissed."

Ryoma stared at Kenichi for a moment. What a tool.

"Deal," he said. "I have no intention of losing," he added as he rested his tennis racquet over his shoulder.

Now to get Sakuno to wake up so they could get the match started.

Poor unconscious Sakuno. As she lay on the ground in a dead faint, she was very much unaware that Ryoma had gambled her first kiss on a tennis match that didn't even need to be played. Needless to say, she probably wouldn't be too happy when she woke up.

Despite the holes in their combination, Ryoma clearly had some confidence in Sakuno's ability. The knowledge of that was a pressure that the self-conscious Sakuno couldn't possibly afford. Ryoma really was too confident for his own good sometimes...

* * *

**Next chapter: **Shut up! It's not my fault that Takeshi Konomi is obsessed with tennis, okay?!

Oh, and Ryoma and Sakuno kiss next chapter. 8D


	9. Break up tactics

Reply to anonymous reviews:

**moi**: You, like a few of my other reviewers, correctly identified the anime I was spoofing as Ranma ½. I'm very pleased that it's so well-known. I get all my dating tips from that show.

**Chapter 9 – Break up tactics**

Ever since Nationals, the regulars of St Rudolph had been practising with extra vigour. Under the leadership of the flamboyant team manager Mizuki Hajime, the young tennis players sought actively to win the winter competition. Not only did they train at school; they practised at the street courts after school hours – that was how dedicated these middle schoolers were.

One particular fine afternoon, the routine was no different. Mizuki was relieved to find that, though the majority of the courts were already taken, there was still one doubles court left to play on.

"But," Fuji's little brother interjected, "there's seven of us here."

Yuuta was right. Mizuki peered at the faces of all six of his other team mates: Yuuta, Yanagisawa, Kisarazu, Akazawa, Kaneda, plus the captain of St Rudolph whose name nobody could really remember.

"It seems," Mizuki remarked, giggling as he twirled a finger through his fine, curly hair, "that there may be a dispute forthcoming. We must settle this the manly way!"

They played rock paper scissors.

Right after that, the captain of St Rudolph whose name nobody could really remember pointed a finger at the court and said, "While we were arguing about who would play, some other people took the court we wanted."

"Nooooooo!" Mizuki howled. "Curse them! Who are they?"

There were two high schoolers standing on the court as well as a boy in middle school. On closer inspection, there were two middle schoolers; the boy was carrying an unconscious girl his own age on his back.

"It's Echizen!" Yuuta exclaimed, surprised. He hadn't seen Ryoma since Nationals but there was no mistaking the short freshman wearing the white fila cap. Yuuta didn't recognise any of the other people, though. The types of people that he least expected to see Ryoma hanging out with were girls and high school students.

"This looks like it'll be... interesting," Mizuki commented, smirking. He had been wanting to collect some thorough data on post-Nationals Seigaku.

Wordlessly, the boys of St Rudolph watched as the girl who Ryoma was carrying on his back slowly opened her eyes. Even from a distance, the blush on her cheek was plainly visible.

"She likes him, da ne," Yanagisawa stated the bleeding obvious.

Kisarazu, who had been standing beside Yanagisawa with his arms folded impassively, rolled his eyes in evident distaste. "This is boring," he said. "I'm going."

The other uninteresting people from St Rudolph followed suit, leaving only Mizuki, Yuuta and Akazawa to watch the action.

"Hey...!" Akazawa said suddenly. "Those high schoolers; they look sorta familiar..."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Yuuta asked.

"Well, I've played with some high schoolers in the past," Akazawa replied, "to get the edge in my tennis."

Yuuta nodded. He understood that was one of the reasons why the tanned boy was St Rudolph's ace singles player.

"And," Akazawa continued, "I'm certain I've seen those high schoolers before. I haven't played them before, though."

"Then how do you know if they're good?" Yuuta pressed him.

Akazawa explained.

"I heard..."

**

* * *

**

After Ryoma had established that Sakuno could stand securely on her own two feet without swooning, he turned and faced Kenichi and Nodoka who stood on the opposite side of the net. A gentle breeze blew across the court, causing the net to quiver ever so slightly. Karupin was placed on the umpire's chair and from his vantage point, he silently watched the proceedings.

Ryoma took out his racquet and prepared to spin it. "Rough or smooth?" he asked with a brief glance upwards.

"Smooth," Nodoka answered promptly. As she watched the racquet spin, she said, "You don't know what you're getting into, shorty."

The racquet landed on smooth. "I'll serve first," Kenichi said. Then he added, "After six short games, I will embrace the pigtailed girl and kiss her as we agreed."

Sakuno looked as if she was about to faint all over again.

"Not gonna happen," Ryoma said snarkily.

Sakuno was nonetheless mortified. "R-Ryoma-kun..." she gasped, "you can't...!"

"We won't lose," Ryoma told her.

"It's not that," Sakuno insisted meekly. "It's just that... you didn't have permission..." He didn't own her and he certainly couldn't decide who kissed her. For Sakuno, as with any innocent young schoolgirl, the first kiss was a lofty notion indeed.

But what did Ryoma care? It wasn't him who was in any danger of being kissed. He just looked at her as if he didn't know why she was getting upset. Sakuno noticed his expression and sighed. Ryoma sure was dense, she thought. She couldn't help but feel just a little resentful at that.

She didn't notice that Nodoka and Kenichi were looking at her, and as she sighed and glanced glumly downwards at her feet, the two high schoolers looked at each other and winked.

**

* * *

**

"Aso Kenichi and Obata Nodoka," Akazawa recited the names with a straight face. "They're known as the Couple Cleaver of high school mixed doubles!"

"Couple Cleaver?" Mizuki said inquiringly.

"I don't really know what that is," Akazawa admitted, "but I think they're called that because they specialise in psychologically breaking up a doubles pair."

Mizuki laughed gleefully. "In that case, young Echizen doesn't stand a chance. I know from my data that he is not good at doubles at all."

Yuuta bit his lip, not in worry but in contemplation.

Down on the court, Aso Kenichi was sporting a confident, self-assured grin as he tossed the ball to serve.

"Let's see you hit that back!" he yelled as he served the ball down the middle of the court. The ball looked like a yellow streak because of its high speed.

Ryoma reacted immediately.

Whack! He hit the return right down the middle before anyone could blink. Instant winner.

"W-W-What the hell was that?!" Kenichi stuttered.

_Owned,_ Ryoma thought.

"It'll be six short games, that's for sure," he said aloud, smirking. Kenichi frowned.

Sakuno let out an imperceptible shiver.

From the sidelines, Yuuta cast Mizuki a dry glance. "Mizuki-san, what were you saying about Echizen's chances?"

"Absolutely nothing," Mizuki insisted.

Grinning in spite of himself at Mizuki's reaction, Yuuta turned his attention back down to the game. Kenichi seemed to have gotten over what had happened in the first point and was concentrating on serving again. This time, the receiver was Sakuno.

It was apparent that the girl was still caught up about whatever was bothering her because a look of anguished surprise flickered across her face as Kenichi's serve came towards her. Stumbling on to her back foot, she swung her racquet too late. The ball landed on the adjacent court – nowhere near where she was supposed to hit it.

"O-Oh dear." Her face really was drained of colour.

Ryoma was silent.

Noting the facial expressions of her opponents, Nodoka smiled. "Looks like we've found the flaw in their combination," she whispered to Kenichi.

He nodded in agreement. Over the years, he and Nodoka had gotten exceptionally skilled at reading the relationship between two people. It made being the Couple Cleaver that much easier.

"She just wants to impress the brat," Nodoka snorted. "It's a flimsy motivation."

"Ooh, pigtailed girl, you will see that there are better men out there than the one you are with," Kenichi murmured darkly. Then, looking up and smiling confidently, he prepared yet another serve.

Ryoma's eyebrows knit together in a frown of concentration. When Kenichi hit his serve, Ryoma whacked it back just as quickly as before.

This time, though, it was not a winner.

Nodoka darted to the side and reached the ball just as it bounced. "I'm getting used to your speed!" she announced gleefully. Then, with a grunt, she aimed a backhand drive towards Sakuno. Sakuno was ready for it. She deflected the shot back over the net as best she could. Before Sakuno could recover from her shot, Nodoka ran up to the ball and rammed it right back at her. With a feeble gasp of dismay, Sakuno was forced to let that one go.

"30-15," Nodoka chirped. "Emily can't speak," she explained with a glance towards Karupin on the chair, "so I'm going to keep the score for her!"

It was amazing, really, how a person could be both cunning and daft simultaneously. Nodoka and Kenichi's game strategy certainly was cleverly put together. They wanted to break Ryoma and Sakuno up by exerting pressure on Sakuno's fragile mentality. For a pair of immature high schoolers, they proved to be unexpectedly tough foes.

Nodoka and Kenichi went on to win the next two consecutive points to take a 1-0 game lead. Both points were won entirely through Sakuno's error. It wasn't that Sakuno was that bad, though. She could hold her own for a few shots, although when all attacks were aimed solely at her and only occasionally were balls aimed Ryoma's way... well, Sakuno's skill wasn't high enough to sustain a rally all by herself. And so the errors took their toll on the scoreline.

In spite of himself, Ryoma felt his frustration at Sakuno start to well up. When he recalled the fire in her eyes during that match against the Tachibanas, the Sakuno before him was a mere shadow in comparison. That was how intermediate players were – lacking in consistency when crunch time came.

It was just like their doubles play – brilliant one day and average the next.

Ryoma clenched his fist tightly.

"Hey." When the game score was 2-0 against him, he finally tapped his partner on the shoulder with his racquet. "Let's come up with a counter strategy," he said.

"Like what?" Sakuno asked him. She looked at him with wide, doe-like eyes. It was kind of like she expected Ryoma to have all the answers.

"I don't know," Ryoma admitted with effort. He didn't have _Doubles for Beginners _with him, for a start.

Sakuno stared glumly down at her feet.

"I can't make them stop hitting the ball to me," she said sadly. Laying her pink-framed racquet down by her feet, she started playing with her skirt and sighed heavily. She looked like she'd given up.

Nodoka and Kenichi observed the girl's dejected stance with a distinct expression mirrored on their two faces: satisfaction.

"It won't be long now until she loses all of her fight," Nodoka remarked cheerfully. Because she was getting a little bored with the proceedings, she was hopping in little circles around Kenichi.

"Would you mind stop doing that?" Kenichi grumbled.

Rather than obliging, Nodoka pouted and stuck her tongue out at him. _How childish_, Kenichi thought.

The three spectators from St Rudolph were somewhat bewildered by what was going on. "The Couple Cleaver is suffering dischord in their own relationship," Akazawa said while scratching his head in evident confusion.

"How weird," Yuuta agreed.

"But their combination is flawless," Mizuki argued.

The next game in the match proved Mizuki right, with Nodoka and Kenichi effortlessly extending their lead to 3-0. Whatever differences the two had off the court, it was clear that their doubles play was working.

"Change ends!" Nodoka sang as she dashed right past Ryoma and Sakuno. She was in position even before her opponents had made it past the net.

Akazawa frowned. "Another psychological tactic. Nodoka-san makes it seem like she is better prepared to go on playing by changing ends more quickly. That puts pressure on the opponent."

"Come on, Echizen," Yuuta muttered, "you're stronger than that. You can overcome those cheap mind tricks!" Anxiously, he gazed at Ryoma, who didn't seem to be showing all that much emotion.

Then Ryoma lowered the visor of his cap, obscuring his eyes from view. That was when it became even more difficult for those looking at him to tell what he was thinking. At that moment, Karupin's meowing filled the air.

Ryoma knew that it was around the time his cat normally got fed. "Karupin..." His lips formed the name, and he wondered how he could win the match quickly so he could get Karupin home in time for dinner.

"Um... Ryoma-kun..." Sakuno was timidly tugging on his sleeve.

"What?" he demanded.

She looked like she was about to say, "Nothing," and fade away back into the distance as usual, but then she seemed to shake herself and she spoke up.

"Ryoma-kun... your cat. What will happen to your cat if we lose?" she asked him seriously.

He answered, "We won't lose."

Sakuno fell silent. That was what he'd said in the beginning, which meant...

He'd gambled his cat on the outcome of the match.

Bashfully, she watched Ryoma make his way to his position, yet she made no move to follow him at all. Finally, when he looked over his shoulder at her, silently urging her to hurry up, she said falteringly,

"I-I'm sorry."

Ryoma blinked. She wasn't about to quit on him, surely.

Sakuno took another deep breath and then looked straight into his eyes.

"I didn't realise that something bad would happen to you if we lost," she said slowly, "only that something bad would happen to me. I was very selfish."

Ryoma could see the fire slowly rekindling in Sakuno's eyes.

"You... trust me, don't you, Ryoma-kun?" She started to smile. "You trust me; that's why you said we shouldn't lose."

To be honest, Ryoma had not thought too deeply about the matter, yet he supposed Sakuno was right. At the very least, he couldn't contradict her. As he watched her make her half-nervous yet determined strides towards her position by the net, a sudden thought occurred to him.

She sure was loyal. Even before she had been his doubles partner, she'd still come to every single one of his matches and cheer him on, as he recalled. No matter what he said or did, she'd still support him through thick and thin. The realisation came as something of a surprise to him because in the past he'd never seen Sakuno's behaviour as 'loyalty'. Rather, he had accepted it as something that just happened at Seigaku. Suddenly, Ryoma felt indebted to all the freshmen who supported him: to Kachiroh and Katsuo, even Horio.

No, he didn't feel indebted. He just felt grateful.

And there was only one way for him to express his feelings.

Focusing back on the match, Ryoma proceeded to serve with all his heart out, and four consecutive aces later, he and Sakuno won their first game. 3-1. The wheel had begun to turn.

"It's my serve again," Kenichi announced smoothly as he picked a stray ball off the ground. "You may have provided yourself with temporary relief because of your aces," he said to Ryoma, "but don't presume your luck will hold out forever."

"Just serve already," Ryoma told him.

With a cool glare, Kenichi replied, "Have it your way." He hit the serve as hard as he could.

_Just hit it to the beautiful pigtailed girl, _he thought when the return came to him. Stepping to his shot, he hit a backhand aimed directly at Sakuno's body. She let out a squeak which Kenichi heard with keen ears. Smiling, he had just about accepted the point as his when he noticed Sakuno shuffle out of the ball's way. Then Ryoma took the ball and hit straight down the alleyway for a winner. Sakuno's alarmed 'squeak' had actually been a signal to Ryoma to take the ball for her!

"Impossible!" Kenichi cursed.

It was as if his and Nodoka's attempt to break up Ryoma and Sakuno had resulted in their bond actually getting stronger instead. How could that happen? Had he somehow misread their relationship?

Maybe he had, he thought as he watched, powerless as Sakuno set up a finishing smash for Ryoma.

"3-2 our way, change ends," Nodoka announced after that point. She didn't seem nearly so happy about keeping the score as she had before for fairly obvious reasons. Instead of dashing into position, she laboured over pulling a water bottle out of her bag. Meditatively, she drank from it.

Kenichi edged up closer to her. "Nodoka, what do you think?" he asked.

Nodoka sniffed. "Emily...!" she howled, before chugging down the rest of her water.

Her antics only resulted in Kenichi slapping his forehand. "Get a grip, you stupid woman!" he berated her. "What do you think the problem is?"

Nodoka squinted through the neck of the bottle, looking for more liquid. When she found none, she casually tossed the bottle over her shoulder and rubbed her hands together.

Then she answered Kenichi's question. "Their bond is simpler than we thought. Simple bonds are the hardest to break. The girl likes the brat, sure, but it doesn't go as far as wanting to impress him. She just wants to help him. Like a dog with its master, ha." She curled her lip in disdain.

Kenichi scowled. "Don't insult the pigtailed girl!" Then he sighed. "If only we could erase her loyalty for the brat – although that's what makes her so cute!"

Suddenly, he grinned. What did it matter? He and Nodoka were yet to show their true tennis yet. The pigtailed girl and the boy were in for one heck of a surprise.

"Hey, I have an idea..."

**

* * *

**

_Meanwhile..._

Ryoma felt thirsty. He hadn't had a drink since leaving school and, counting his coins, he was pleased that he had enough to procure a can of Ponta. Noting that Nodoka and Kenichi were deep in discussion, he figured he had time. He made his way to the nearby vending machine and habitually checked the cost as he reached for his money.

Bastards, he thought. They'd raised the price of Ponta.

Pulling out the entirety of his spare change, Ryoma counted up all of his coins and sighed with relief. He had just enough for a single can. That was fortunate.

After receiving his can of soft drink, he eagerly started sipping away. He would never get tired of his Ponta.

Suddenly, he heard Sakuno's voice behind him.

"Oh no! I don't have enough change! And I'm really thirsty," she added weakly.

Ryoma turned and looked at her. She was wiping her sweaty forehead and panting slightly. The last couple of points had been workouts for her, as he recalled.

After glancing around to see if anyone was looking, Ryoma stopped drinking his Ponta.

"Have some of mine," he said abruptly and held out the can. Sakuno blinked.

"Thank you very much," she said politely. She took the can and peered into it.

"But you've already drunk some of it," she objected shyly.

Ryoma raised an eyebrow. What was she – greedy? Well, that was all she'd get from him. He didn't have enough money to buy another can. He started to walk off.

Little did Ryoma know that greed formed no part in Sakuno's psychology. Her concern was that Ryoma's germs were already inside the can and if she drank from said can, she'd be sharing his germs, which meant...

Indirect kiss!

A faint blush crept up on Sakuno's cheeks. She looked around just like Ryoma did before in order to see if anyone was looking. No one was, so hesitantly, she sipped on the can. All of a sudden, her thirst overcame her and she sculled the rest of the drink. It tasted very nice. Sakuno let out a sigh of satisfaction.

Oh dear, she thought, at once realising the direction her thoughts were taking. Hastily, she scrunched up the can and placed it in the nearby rubbish bin. Having disposed of all the evidence, she briskly made her way back to the tennis court.

**

* * *

**

**Next chapter: **Lol. I will now prepare to duck from the tomatoes that the RyoSaku fans will no doubt throw at me.

Next chapter will be the second part of the tennis match. Stay tuned because it ain't over yet.


	10. The Ultimate Technique

Reply to anonymous reviews:

**cityangelz: **I'm grateful that you reviewed even though the system wasn't working. Man, if last chapter actually counts as a genuine kiss then I must be more promiscuous than Kenichi. Going by the whole indirect kiss thing means that I'm a total homo as well. Go figure.

**hoshikaze_shana:** Thanks for the review. Say hi to Scarlette Shizuru for me! And no, I didn't know that Queen of the Suits was updated already. I've been kinda busy with other things lately. Eh heh...

**Chapter 10 – The Ultimate Technique**

By the time Sakuno returned to the court, she noticed that the two high schoolers were waiting expectantly on the court, their arms folded in a casual manner. She swallowed nervously. It was time to resume the match.

**

* * *

**

Apparently, nobody noticed dear Karupin slip off the umpire's chair and wander off in his own little adventure.

"Meow," meowed the cat as it ambled around the streets of suburban Tokyo.

Until... Karupin was discovered!

"Meow," meowed the cat as a boy came running it its general direction. The boy was jogging and there was a towel around his neck. Just as he was passing by, he noticed Karupin near his foot and halted abruptly. He was a very scary looking middle school boy indeed; he had a face fit for glowering.

"Here, kitty," he said to Karupin and made an odd hissing noise.

Karupin blinked at Kaidoh, for Kaidoh the boy was. Then Karupin nonchalantly turned around and paced away, leaving Kaidoh to stumble after him. Poor boy couldn't help himself.

**

* * *

**

Over at the street tennis courts, the match was still going on, and Mizuki, Yuuta and Akazawa were still watching with rapt attention.

"Neither one is backing down," Akazawa said, his eyes not daring to flicker away from the action.

Yuuta agreed with him. "They're meeting each other blow for blow!" he added.

Mizuki peered at the action through half-closed eyes. He was impressed that two freshmen in junior high could play so evenly against high schoolers, although he couldn't say he was utterly shocked, since Seigaku had a pretty consistent track record for such feats.

Just as Mizuki was considering this, he could hear Nodoka calling out the score: "4-3; change ends!"

"And you know," Kenichi added, "we still haven't shown our ultimate technique, right, Nodoka?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah!"

_That's right_, Sakuno thought, trembling slightly. So far, the match had lacked special techniques.

"It begins here," Ryoma said, voicing Sakuno's thoughts. He stood as tall as a short guy like him could stand, confidently bracing himself for Kenichi and Nodoka's _ultimate technique_.

Nodoka walked over to Ryoma and kissed him on the lips.

**

* * *

**

Naturally, this action garnered a general response of surprise among the underage viewers, which was everyone at the tennis court.

Mizuki's jaw dropped several feet, Yuuta jumped backwards in alarm and Akazawa started bleeding from his noise. Sakuno went cherry red in the face. In vain, she tried to formulate words but all that issued from her mouth was an incoherent babble. All the while, Kenichi tried to catch her eye but Sakuno's attention was focused entirely elsewhere.

She was looking directly at Ryoma's face, the colouring of which went from healthy to faint pink to pale white in a motion similar to that which traffic lights go through. At first, Ryoma had been far too taken aback at the fact that he was being kissed to do anything. Then suddenly, he felt something warm, wet and disgusting brush his tongue and alarm bells went off in his head. His strength returning to him, Ryoma violently tried to pull away from the kiss, but Nodoka had a vice-like grip on the back of his head.

_So strong...! _Ryoma thought frantically, eyes opening even wider. _How...? _He could feel her fingers brushing through his hair, as if searching for something. He could see that she was leering at him with positive disgust and yet her lips were still locked against his and -

Black.

**

* * *

**

As Ryoma's unconscious body slumped against Nodoka's ample chest, she let go of him and let him fall to the ground. The plan had worked perfectly, she thought as she gazed scornfully at the senseless boy. Having distracted him by kissing him, she had gotten herself close enough to hit a certain pressure point on the back of his head, thereby knocking him out. Her movements were so subtle that nobody watching could tell what she had done. The only thing they would have seen was a shell-shocked Ryoma falling onto Nodoka's chest and from there to the ground.

"Hmph," Nodoka snorted. Ryoma's mouth had tasted like grape Ponta. And he wasn't much of a kisser either; he'd make a horrible boyfriend.

Whatever. The lengths that Nodoka had to go to rescue Emily... geez. She looked up at Sakuno to see what her first verbal response would be.

"Ryoma-kun!" the girl gasped, horrified, and she ran over to the fallen boy's side. She urgently nudged Ryoma but he didn't wake up.

"Looks like he was so shocked, he fainted," Kenichi stated. Nodoka nodded along with him.

"B-But why'd you...?" Sakuno began. It seemed that 'kiss' was too overwhelming a word for her to say at that moment.

Nodoka only giggled foolishly in response. It had been Kenichi's idea to use kissing as a last strategy to break a pair up. Nodoka was far less interested in boys than Kenichi was interested in girls, so she didn't like to use this particular strategy. Still, it was an ample trick that the Couple Cleaver had up its sleeve.

"We can't continue this match," Nodoka pointed out, "and since Kenichi and I are leading, you can say we've won the match."

"And you know what that means," Kenichi added.

Sakuno stared at the two high schoolers in horror, but it seemed she was too dumbfounded to say anything. She didn't argue.

**

* * *

**

"That's dirty!" Yuuta exclaimed. "Tennis is a non-contact sport so kissing isn't allowed!"

"I don't think it'd be allowed even in rugby," Akazawa said dryly.

Mizuki smirked. This was proving to be a very interesting turnout indeed.

**

* * *

**

Sakuno was backed up against the fence like a cornered rabbit. With fear, she gazed wide-eyed at Kenichi, who towered over her. She didn't expect everything to come to this. Even Ryoma couldn't protect her now.

"Please, pigtailed girl," Kenichi began in a benevolent tone, "do not be frightened. It is only a kiss. I would rather you offer yourself willingly to me."

_Only a kiss?! _Sakuno thought with despair. Ryoma had fainted because of a kiss – kissing obviously meant a great deal to him as well!

Wait... did it? The Ryoma that Sakuno knew wouldn't have placed romantic emphasis on a kiss. He would have just found it to be repulsive. He wouldn't _faint_; Ryoma never lost his cool!

All of a sudden, Sakuno thought of the look that had crossed Ryoma's face when he had first seen his cat in Nodoka's arms. There had been a look of genuine alarm on his face – and worry.

_Karupin..._

"Emily!"

Nodoka's shrieking interrupted Sakuno's thoughts. It also distracted Kenichi, who swung around and glared at his doubles partner in annoyance. She was gazing up at the empty umpire's chair with evident consternation.

"What's the matter now, Nodoka?" he snapped.

"Emily's not here!" Nodoka whined. "She vanished!"

"Who cares?" Kenichi replied irritably.

"I care!" Nodoka responded at once. She stood tall and gazed at Kenichi huffily. "If I don't get my cat then you don't get your kiss, Kenichi!"

"That's not fair!"

"Well, where's my cat, then? Help me look for her." With that, Nodoka grabbed Kenichi by the ear and dragged him unceremoniously off the court.

"Wait for me, pigtailed girl!" Kenichi called out as he disappeared from view.

Sakuno waited in silence for a full minute after the Couple Cleaver had departed. When the two high schoolers didn't return, she sighed deeply in relief. Her lips were saved.

But still, poor Ryoma. She wondered if that incident earlier had been his first kiss. And where was Karupin anyway?

"Hey, are you okay?" Sakuno heard a boy's voice behind her. She squeaked in alarm as she swung around to face the person talking to her. There were three boys and Sakuno, not being inclined towards boys at that moment, paled at the sight of them. Then she recognised their uniforms: they were from St. Rudolph.

"We saw everything," the boy who had initially called out to Sakuno explained. He was the one with the short brown hair: _Fuji-senpai's younger brother, _Sakuno recalled.

"Echizen won't wake up. He's been knocked out good," a tanned boy said. Sakuno didn't know his name.

"Maybe we should give him mouth-to-mouth," said the curly-haired boy who sounded gay.

Sakuno's face paled yet again.

"He's only joking," Fuji's younger brother assured her. "The problem is getting Echizen back home. Do you know where he lives?"

Sakuno was about to shake her head in dismay when suddenly the nearby bushes rustled. Sakuno had been emotionally battered far too much by now to even react to the sight of yet another boy appearing on the scene. She did react, though, when she realised that it was Kaidoh.

"K-Kaidoh-senpai!" Even at the best of times, Sakuno was just a little intimated by this particular Seigaku regular.

For some reason, Kaidoh started blushing when he heard his name. Sakuno noticed that he was holding Karupin in his arms. She smiled in pure delight.

"That's Ryoma-kun's cat!" she said happily.

Kaidoh seemed somewhat taken-aback by Sakuno's enthusiasm. He hissed as he put Karupin down by Sakuno's feet. His eyes followed the cat as it immediately made its way towards Ryoma's fallen body.

"What happened?" Kaidoh asked gruffly. He looked surprised. Karupin was nudging Ryoma with his paw but the boy was still refusing to stir. Something was clearly up.

Sakuno sighed. "I-It's a long story. K-Kaidoh-senpai, could you please help us get Ryoma-kun home?" she asked, looking up at her gruff senior beseechingly.

Being the nice, well brought-up young man that he was, Kaidoh was clearly in no position to refuse the young girl's request. With a low hiss issuing from his throat, Kaidoh glared at Sakuno and said "Yes" with genuine earnest. After all, it was up to the older students to help out their underclassmen in times of need.

**

* * *

**

_Later..._

When at last Ryoma woke up, he felt a heavy burden on his chest. Karupin was sitting on him.

He couldn't help but smile. He sat up and hugged his cat very closely to his body. With that, a feeling of sheer relief washed over him. He felt content.

It took him about a minute to work out where he was after that. The lights were turned off and the curtains were shut but there was still afternoon light seeping in through the blinds. Ryoma could see that he was on his bed and that he was still wearing his tennis clothes. Why was this? The first thing that came to his head was Sakuno. Of course – he had been with her after tennis practice. What had happened to her?

Just then, the door opened and Ryoma's cousin Nanako walked into the room. She was dressed in her usual apron and she was carrying the telephone in her delicate, white fingers.

"Ah, Ryoma-san, you're awake," she said, smiling. "When your bandana-clad friend dropped you and Karupin off here and you were unconscious, I was worried."

_Bandana-clad friend...? _Ryoma thought groggily. Oh, of course. Kaidoh.

"Ryuzaki-sensei is asking for you on the phone," Nanako went on. "But if you're still sick, then I'll tell her."

"It's fine," Ryoma said. He took the phone and held it to his ear. As he did, he gestured for Nanako to leave. She did.

"Hello?" Ryoma said into the phone, sounding slightly bored.

Ryuzaki-sensei's voice came through the line, direct and crisp in a comforting and familiar sort of way. She sounded absolutely furious.

"Sakuno tells me that you and she were up to trouble after school today. Echizen! How could you be so irresponsible? Explain yourself!"

Ryoma did not understand.

"I don't understand," he confessed.

"I'll bet you do," Ryuzaki-sensei replied. "Wait, Sakuno wants to speak to you."

There was a pause, and then Sakuno's nervous, feminine voice sounded in Ryoma's ear.

"Um, Ryoma-kun... I hope you're all right... That k-kiss before knocked you out..."

Ryoma's eye twitched.

Again, there was a pause, then Ryuzaki-sensei's voice came through the phone again. "Now do you get it?"

_Huh? _Ryoma thought stupidly.

"Huh?" he said stupidly.

This time, it was Sakuno who responded. "Ryoma-kun, I know you must be more upset about not being able to finish things today. It wasn't right that _she _interrupted everything. That's why we'll do our best, Ryoma-kun and make our relationship work!"

Now, Ryoma really wasn't the type to care much for any romantic undertones, but even _he _could see something had clearly happened from the way Sakuno spoke. He spoke up. "You're talking like I kissed you or something." He didn't remember anything of the sort.

"U-U-Um! Ryoma-k-k-kun!" Ryoma winced at the sound of Sakuno's agitated spluttering. "N-No!" the girl insisted vigorously. "You didn't kiss me at all! I mean, you sort of did, but – Grandma! Ah!" The line went dead.

Ryoma stared into the phone, more puzzled than ever. No matter how hard he wracked his brain, the last thing that he could remember before waking up in his bed was walking down the street with Sakuno trailing behind him. Then there was nothing. Just static.

Hmm, the last time something like this had happened, there had been an _ultimate technique_ involved somehow. He'd have to ask Sakuno about it tomorrow. She seemed to know all the details. Plus, he knew that she was super loyal to him. That much stuck in his mind.

At that point, Karupin let out a purr and started rubbing hid head affectionately against Ryoma's leg. The young boy looked down at his cat and the corners of his mouth turned upward slightly. So that was the source of the sudden warm sensation he felt tingling inside of him. It was kind of nice.

**

* * *

**

Circumstances were not kind to the hapless Couple Cleaver, meanwhile. After half an hour of fruitlessly searching the block for 'Emily', Nodoka and Kenichi dejectedly returned to the street tennis courts. The place was completely devoid of signs of life. Rather than blaming their own selves for their utter lack of common sense, Nodoka blamed Kenichi and vice versa.

"If you had kept an eye on the cat the whole time...!"

"No, if you had the pigtailed girl come with us the whole time...!"

After about another half-hour of squabbling in this vein, the two high schoolers stopped. Nodoka said:

"Using our knowledge of martial arts and the human body, I managed to knock out the brat and wipe out all his memories of us. But do you think we should have used our _real _martial arts tennis? What then?"

Then -

"Nah, we're saving that for the mixed doubles championship, aren't we?"

**

* * *

**

**Next chapter: **And here comes the obligatory fanservice-y beach episode! Fuji spices things up by aspiring to be the best beach cricketer on the tennis team. I have no idea what this has to do with mixed doubles. Even though it's so obvious that Fuji and Sakuno will never hook up, apparently the next chapter has some unintentional FujiSaku interaction.

Fuji: Is that so? Are you sure this is still a boy's story, Frog-kun?

Frog-kun: I worked out that there are no boys reading this. Every good novelist knows he must write what people want to read. It's called _understanding the demographics_.

Fuji: Ah ha... That is a little...

Frog-kun: Dude, aren't you supposed to be a genius? How I'd love to write a story about me piloting a giant mecha robot and squashing you like an ant but that would be totally Gary Stu and I'd probably get flamed.

Fuji: …

NOTE: Frog-kun has been watching way too much mecha anime lately. He likes to think he can pilot the Evangelion but unfortunately, he fell into depression after realising that he was not mentally unstable enough to be an NGE character. Help cure Frog-kun's depression by reviewing/alerting this story today!


	11. Beach Cricket

**Author's note: **According to the Internet, there's a certain rule for writing romance: "Romance doesn't start off slow. The sparks between your hero and heroine need to fly from the very first moment they come in contact, whether they are attracted to each other or they hate each other's guts. These scenes will increase the romantic tension until it explodes, and the intimacy follows."

That's pretty much RyoSaku in a nutshell.

**Chapter 11 – Beach Cricket**

Time went on, each day as bright and cheery as the last. For Ryoma and Sakuno, the beginning of the Mixed Doubles championship was fast approaching. While their combination was beginning to pick up, there was something else that irked Sakuno. Although she detected a subtle improvement in Ryoma's normally indifferent attitude towards her, it seemed that for once, he didn't seem as driven as Sakuno thought that he would be. When it became clear to her that Ryoma did not remember the match against the Couple Cleaver, she felt as if she had to settle the score for his sake as well as her own. Going along this train of thought, what occurred to her next was entirely natural.

"Ryoma-kun," she said after practice one day, "I think I need a special technique."

As usual, she was walking behind Ryoma rather than next to him so she couldn't see his face. That was how it was these days: Ryoma always walked her home; or rather, she followed him because he always stopped outside her house before continuing on his way alone. Sakuno was a little hesitant to call this ritual "walking home together" due to the fact that he generally didn't speak to her. That was partially Sakuno's fault seeing as she was too shy to initiate conversation with him anyway. Now that she had mentioned her desire to learn a special technique, however…

"Mada mada da ne."

Sakuno's heart sank.

"I-Is that so?" she said shakily. "Then… you don't think I'm good enough?"

"That's not what I meant," Ryoma replied evenly. His cap facing downwards, he continued walking as he elaborated on what he said. "You can't just say 'I want to have my own technique', you have to discover your true style of tennis." He paused. "It can take a while."

Sakuno was not unaware that this moment constituted the single longest speech that Ryoma had ever addressed to her.

"But," she mused, "I wonder how I'm meant to discover my true tennis…?"

Seeing as Ryoma was not providing her with any answers, she meditatively pondered on the question herself – until she noticed that standing further along the street with his arms folded expectantly was Seigaku's resident genius: Fuji Syusuke. He looked up, noticed Ryoma and Sakuno, and waved.

"What are you doing here, Fuji-senpai?" Ryoma asked before greetings could be issued.

"I was looking for you, Echizen," Fuji answered with a smile. "I was thinking we could all go to the beach tomorrow."

'We' referred to the regulars, of course. "Why?" Ryoma asked blankly.

"Well," said Fuji, "tomorrow's forecast was very humid – too humid for the usual training, I thought – so why not use that time as an opportunity to relax? You may come too if you like," he added to Sakuno.

Sakuno, who had been feeling a little left out of the conversation, nodded at once. "I'll invite Tomo-chan," she said, "if that's all right."

"It's fine," Fuji assured her. He turned back to Ryoma. "Well, Echizen?"

And because Ryoma liked Fuji, he said, "Okay." Besides, he couldn't exactly practise doubles tomorrow even if he refused, thanks to Sakuno submitting to Fuji right off the bat.

Wow. That sounded kinda wrong.

"That's good," Fuji was saying, blissfully unaware of what Ryoma was thinking about. "Because you agreed so readily, I'll let you in on a little secret. The truth is – we're not going to play volleyball tomorrow."

Ryoma blinked. Wasn't volleyball the usual activity at the beach? Without it, what then?

Fuji opened his eyes, which was what he generally did when he was excited.

"Cricket," he said.

**

* * *

**

So of course Ryoma, being the type of person he is, went straight to the bookstore after getting rid of Sakuno and he got himself a book about cricket. Relaxing with his seniors was actually a euphemism for competing against them in an alternative sport. And Ryoma didn't like to make a fool out of himself out on the sporting field. He felt somewhat unnerved about cricket since he knew nothing about it other than it was a 'pommy' sport. Reading his book, however, gave him valuable insight.

A bowler serves a ball to a batter who tries to hit the ball and make runs… _Hey, this was just a variation of baseball_, Ryoma thought. At least he understood the basic rules of the game, having lived in America for most of his life. That was why he didn't read further into his book and promptly went to bed.

**

* * *

**

The next day was almost unbearably humid, just as Fuji had predicted.

And that wasn't all; Fuji was remarkably well-prepared for this day at the beach. Not only had he hired a bus to take everyone down the beach, he also carried a sports bag, containing the cricket bat, three wicket stumps and a cricket ball. The bat made up most of the weight and on top of that, Fuji also brought his tennis bag as well. Seigaku regulars really were obsessed with tennis.

Speaking of the regulars, most of them were there: Momo, Kaidoh, Kikumaru, Oishi, Kawamura and Inui. True to her word, Sakuno turned up with Tomoka, although aside from Ryoma, they were the only freshmen there. The only one who was really missing was Tezuka.

"It's a strange thing," said Fuji. "I could say nothing to Tezuka to induce him to come. He will be missing out on a great experience."

"Uh, Fuji, are you sure about this?" Kawamura asked nervously, scratching his head. "There are a lot of people here…"

He was right. Apparently, half of Japan had come upon the same solution to the hot weather as Fuji. There was almost no room at all since there were semi-naked beachgoers lazing around as far as the eye could see. With so little space, playing a game of cricket without the risk of injuring somebody was out of the question.

Fuji was too busy dragging his two bags across the sand to really take notice. "Ah, this cricket bat is a little heavy," he remarked suddenly. "Taka-san, could you please hold it for me?"

Before poor Kawamura could object, Fuji handed him the full-sized, wooden cricket bat. It was a dangerous blunt weapon.

"BURNING!" Kawamura roared.

With a sudden, ferocious vigour, he waved the bat around with one arm, causing all those around him to flinch. He than ran out across the sands, swinging the bat and yelling nonsensical words in English. Within the span of five minutes, there were no more strangers left at the beach.

"Hmm, I wonder why they all left…" Fuji said to no one in particular.

The other regulars all slapped their foreheads in unison.

**

* * *

**

The cricket started not long after that. While Sakuno and Tomoka stood well out of range of any balls and watched, the others scattered themselves around the beach. Fuji stood in the middle of it all because he was bowling. The wickets were situated roughly the distance of a tennis court away from Fuji. Momo stood in front of the wickets, holding the bat up in baseball position. It turned out that Ryoma was not the only one who researched cricket only to dismiss it as a variation of baseball.

It didn't take long for Momo's folly to become clear. Firstly, the cricket bat was heavier than a baseball bat, so when Momo swung it, his reaction time was slower than he had calculated. Secondly, Fuji did not pitch the ball, he bowled it instead: meaning, the ball bounced on the sand before coming towards the wickets. Thirdly, because the ball bounced on the sand, it came up to a lower level than Momo's knees, forcing him to bend down before hitting the ball. All this meant that despite his natural sense of coordination, Momo missed the ball completely.

"Idiot," said Kaidoh smugly. He was the wicketkeeper and was choosing to ignore the fact that he probably would have made the same mistake had he been in Momo's position.

"What did you call me, viper?!" Momo demanded furiously.

"You obviously don't know how to play this game," said Kaidoh, "so that means you're an idiot."

Noticing that the situation was threatening to degenerate into a fist fight, Oishi called out, "All right, knock it off, you two. No one knows how to play cricket here except for Fuji, so let's ask him how to hold the bat."

Everyone turned to the smiling Fuji. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Momo grumbled.

"I just wanted to see how well you would fare," Fuji replied innocently enough. "All right, so when you hold the bat, the tip is meant to touch the ground, as if you're dragging it. That way, you can hit the low balls easily, see?"

Momo adjusted his grip. "Okay, I'm ready. I can't screw up this time," he said, grinning. "I just can't."

After a few more practice swings from Momo, Fuji bowled again. The ball simply flew straight out of his hand. He had obviously practised bowling because his action was so seamless; it was like watching him serve in tennis.

Momo, with his penchant for picking things up quickly, watched the ball carefully, concentrated and then smacked it as hard as he could.

"Don!"

The ball ripped through the air. Kawamura tried to catch it but it flew right past him.

"This happened because I am Asian and I have awesome hair," Momo declared with an air of heroic calmness.

Then suddenly, everyone heard a plop sound.

"The ball's in the ocean!" Eiji yelled dramatically. "Gee, I think we've lost it!"

"The tide's pushing out," said Inui. "It is impossible to retrieve the ball at this rate."

The regulars gazed forlornly at the beautiful, glistening ocean.

"Not to worry," interjected Fuji. "I brought spare tennis balls." He opened his tennis bag and proved his point. A handful of fresh, new balls lay inside.

Ryoma smiled. "That's just like Fuji-senpai, always having a second plan," he remarked. It was nice to witness the antics of his seniors in all its comedic glory. He'd been so busy with Sakuno that he hadn't had much time for his senpai recently.

Just as Ryoma was thinking that, Fuji walked across the sand in the direction of Tomoka and Sakuno and he said, "I think it would be best for Momoshiro to retire for now. Ryuzaki, will you bat next?"

"Huh?" Ryoma blinked.

"Huh?" Sakuno blinked.

Eiji voiced the obvious objection. "But she's not even playing. Look how far away she's standing."

"You can hear me, can't you, Ryuzaki?" Fuji asked. "It's your decision: will you play or not?"

His eyes were open.

Sakuno had never heard a direct invitation from Fuji to participate with the regulars before. For some reason, that made her blush.

Beside her, Tomoka was giggling. "Do it, do it, Sakuno! Oh man, I want to do it too!"

Ryoma watched Sakuno wordlessly.

"A-All right," the girl said finally. "Please take care of me…"

"Good," said Fuji. He made his way back to his position for bowling.

_He's planning something,_ Ryoma thought. There had to be a reason for this.

Because the other regulars were equally as curious as Ryoma about Fuji's intentions, nobody said anything as Sakuno nervously took her position.

"Let's make it easier," Fuji said in a kindly tone. "Ryuzaki, play with a wicket instead of the bat."

This elicited a gasp from just about everyone standing on the beach.

"The wicket is so slim and tiny! How does that make things easier?" Momo demanded.

"We'll compensate by having less fielders, then," Fuji answered without missing a beat. "Eiji, you be wicketkeeper. Echizen, you're fielding. Everyone else – to the sidelines."

Amid shouts of complaint from those not named 'Eiji' or 'Echizen', Ryoma asked, "How do I cover the whole field on my own?"

Fuji cast him a sharp glance. "You must anticipate the batter's strikes," he answered.

Ryoma's confused expression cleared. He thought he understood now. _Clever Fuji._

Fuji nodded once. "All right, here we go," he said.

Sakuno gulped and braced herself. All she could think about was how pointless and embarrassing this current procedure was.

The ball connected with the wicket.

"And you're out!" Eiji announced as he picked up the ball rolled by Sakuno's feet.

Sakuno realised at that moment that she'd actually missed the ball and that it had hit the wickets behind her instead. Mada mada da ne, much? All she could do was laugh.

And then out of the blue, a thought occurred to her. She was absolutely certain on what she needed to do.

"I want to keep batting," she said. Just as the words left her mouth, she became keenly aware of how presumptuous she must have sounded. "Er, sorry, I'll let someone else have a go..."

"No, stay," Fuji told her. "Let's give it another go. Why don't you try thinking of this as tennis?"

"Tennis?" She blinked. "Oh... okay..."

She did as asked. Now that she thought about it that way, seeing a tennis ball come towards her really did give her the illusion that she was playing tennis. She knew, then, what she needed to do in order to succeed: she needed to watch the ball carefully and hit it with the sweet spot. Time seemed to slow for her as she concentrated. The wicket seemed weightless in her hand, just like the pink racquet that felt almost like an extension of her arm now.

She could hear the sound of her wicket hitting the ball. It was a wholly satisfying sound and she could hear it, ringing in her ears.

The boys (plus Tomoka) watched as the ball bounced off Sakuno's wicket. Her shot was far from Momo's level, and Ryoma dashed in closer to the girl in order to retrieve the ball. Fuji could see that though his head was down, Ryoma's mouth was curled into a _very_ slight smile, the type that he only wore when he was watching his friends play with all their heart and soul. That subtle smile of pride.

So Fuji smiled as well.

**

* * *

**

The boy sat down with his arms folded, his gaze fixed towards an inconspicuous pot plant that was leaned against the wall. There was a window to look out of but he wasn't in the mood to look down at the dirty, crowded streets of Tokyo. There was also a small television several feet to the left of the pot plant, but all that was showing was a daytime cooking show and the sound was muted anyway. There was a small pile of outdated women's magazines beside him, which he had barely glanced at. To his right, he could hear the secretary shuffling around with the papers on her desk.

He glanced at the clock up on the wall. Only a few more minutes until he would be called up into the room which was beyond the secretary's desk. There was a closed door barring the way and it was plain and undecorated. There was no doubt that the room behind it was just as orthodox, so he wasn't concerned about what lay behind the door.

He heard the secretary pick up the phone and now she was talking into it, something about booking an appointment and a contract. He did not look at her. She had a pleasant voice which did not match her facial features and besides, staring at the pot plant was his primary source of entertainment. He was not bored, however, since he was preoccupied with his thoughts. For instance: why was he summoned here? Why did he obey the call? He had a distinct feeling that he might not be hearing good news.

Just then, he heard his name being called. "Tezuka Kunimitsu-san."

The captain of Seigaku's tennis team rose to his feet.

"Please excuse my presence," he responded with a stiff, polite bow. With that formality out of the way, he looked up. The closed door was now open and a well-dressed man stood at the doorway. He made a beckoning gesture with his hands.

"Please come inside," the man said cordially.

Tezuka obliged.

**

* * *

**

In the end, Momo never got to bat again. The rest of the day was Sakuno batting with the wicket and Ryoma doing his best to cover the entire beach, and the two of them looked like they were having fun so Momo didn't ask to bat again. That didn't mean to say that he didn't feel like coming to the beach was a pointless investment of his time. On the way back home, he brooded on this.

"Did Fuji-senpai ask us to come here for training?" Momo asked aloud. "If I think about it, using a wicket to hit a ball instead of a racquet would improve your timing and your coordination. Plus, Echizen has to anticipate Ryuzaki's shots so that would improve their combination."

"You figured this out only now?" Kaidoh snorted. "You really are slow."

"And you really get on my nerves!" Momo growled.

Because the two couldn't start being a violent on a bus since they had seatbelts on, nobody worried about them too much. It was, after all, a tranquil afternoon now that it had stopped being humid.

Meanwhile, Sakuno was leaning on Tomoka's shoulder, sleeping away her exhaustion. Tomoka just sighed girlishly but when it came down to it, she was too friendly with Sakuno to pull away. Her concern was for another subject entirely.

"Ryoma-sama never noticed my new swimsuit," she moaned. "He was too caught up about _something else_. Oh man!"

Nobody on the bus could remember what Tomoka's swimsuit even looked like. They were also too busy thinking about _something else._

Oishi suddenly said, "But you know, Fuji, you did this to help out Echizen and Ryuzaki, didn't you?"

Ryoma, who had been silently looking out the window of the bus at the late afternoon scenery, glanced towards Fuji curiously. Fuji was sitting next to Kawamura. Noticing that Ryoma and Oishi were looking at him, he nodded.

"I thought it would be interesting," he remarked. The other day or so, Fuji had read about cricket in a book and after trying out the game himself, he had worked out how useful using the wicket for training purposes would be. Seeing Sakuno doing her best in the same gruelling exercises day in and day out had given him further ideas to apply his alternative training method. Although Ryoma and Sakuno were very much guinea pigs for Fuji's experiment, he had a genuine desire to help.

Eiji laughed. "Fuji, you really are a nice guy!"

Momo used the opportunity to give Ryoma the noogie that the little guy deserved. "Oi, you should thank your senpai when they do something considerate for you!"

"Stop that, Momo-senpai!"

"Not 'till you say thank you!"

"No way!"

"Echizen's so rude," Momo commented with a toothy grin. He let go.

Fuji didn't seem to mind. "It's fine," he said. He had gotten all the thanks he needed earlier. Even though he had taken no photos, he could still see Ryoma's smile in his mind's eye. It really was so very interesting to see the cocky freshman like that. He had ended up taking the whole doubles thing much closer to heart than anyone would have suspected.

"Just promise one thing, Echizen," he said.

Ryoma looked up. He had actually meant to say thank you; he just wasn't very good at expressing himself.

"When we get back," Fuji said, "let's play a serious match."

_A serious match with Fuji-senpai... _Ryoma could still remember the last time they'd played seriously. He could still hear the rain pressing down on him, feel the sweat dripping off him, the sheer _thrill_. That match had never been finished.

"Tell me," said Fuji as he opened his eyes, "what entices you more? Finishing that match – or doubles?"

For a moment, Ryoma didn't reply.

**

* * *

**

**Next chapter: **So, yeah, it turned out being more Thrill Pair than FujiSaku. And pretty well platonic at that. On another note, the question that's been boiling underneath the surface now rises to the top: What are Ryoma's priorities?

Also, who is Tezuka meeting? What surprising truth does he learn about Ryoma? Find out next chapter!


	12. Thrill of Defeat

**Author's note: **I have but one word to explain my tardy: exams.

This story has no bearing or connection to the New Prince of Tennis. Just making sure we established that in case the outrageous claims I make in this chapter ruffle your feathers.

**Chapter 12 – Thrill of Defeat**

The room was plain and orthodox, just as Tezuka had expected. If anything, it tried just a little too hard to be plain and orthodox. It was suppressive, but not in a disquieting manner. Tezuka stood in the middle of the room, his feet planted firmly on the carpet. He was waiting...

"You may sit," said the man invitingly. "Make yourself comfortable."

The seat was warm and velvety. When Tezuka sat on it, he was on a slightly lower level than the man, who took his own seat across from him. An imperceptible frown came upon Tezuka's face as he noticed this. Humbly, he remained silent.

The well-dressed man pretended to take no notice of Tezuka for a moment. He straightened up the papers on his desk and examined his wristwatch carefully before slowly bringing his bespectacled gaze onto Tezuka. He smiled cordially.

"Come now, no need to look so uptight."

Tezuka spoke up. "I'm curious to know what you have called me here for." He hesitated before adding, "Considering we have never met until this day." His arms were folded in an almost defensive sort of gesture.

"Well, you are the captain of Seigaku's prestigious tennis club," the man responded lightly. "In my eyes, you are a VIP – a very important person."

Tezuka did not look convinced.

"Ryuzaki-sensei told me about you and your intentions," he said severely. "Nomu-san."

Nomu Kenta sighed and crossed his fingers. Then he uncrossed them and peered at his fingernails.

"I must cut them soon," he muttered to himself. "They are looking quite long."

He looked up and then noticed the _look _that was on Tezuka's face. He laughed just a little self-consciously.

"I'm sorry. Yes, what was I saying? Ah, I remember. You are right, Tezuka-kun, about my having an intention. I called you here so that we could talk about Echizen-kun. I take it that you and he are on intimate terms."

"You exaggerate," Tezuka answered evenly. However, the hardness of his gaze eased a fraction now that he was completely aware of where the conversation was headed. But to be honest, he and Ryoma really weren't that close. Ryoma saw Tezuka as the aloof pillar of Seigaku; they weren't friends by the conventional definition.

Nomu chuckled. "The relationship between a captain and his subordinate, I take it? At any rate, Echizen-kun respects you a great deal, just as you respect your former captain."

Tezuka frowned.

"Ah," said Nomu knowingly, "you must be thinking: 'How does this stranger know about Yamato-buchou?' I performed a background check on you and all of the Seigaku regulars, that is how. Forgive me for prying, but it is because I am interested..."

He then leaned forward and spoke in a quiet voice of barely contained excitement.

"Echizen-kun is truly amazing. If he were among people inferior to him, those people would merely drag him down. He must climb higher, must he not? When I discovered that all of the regulars were talented, not just Echizen-kun, that bestowed great relief upon me. Now answer me this question. Do you, as captain of Seigaku, think that Echizen-kun is ready to turn pro?"

Tezuka thought about that fateful match against Yukimura as well as his own match against Ryoma. _"Echizen, become Seigaku's pillar of support." _He could still remember with perfect detail what he'd said to Ryoma that day, and Ryoma had changed as a result.

And ever so briefly, Tezuka thought of Sakuno...

"If what Echizen wants to do is to win as a pro, then he will strive to achieve his goal," Tezuka stated. "That is all."

Nomu looked put out. "That's a vague response. Why is nobody as excited as I am? I doubt that Echizen-kun himself would accept my feelings either. The truth of the matter being that time is running out."

Tezuka stiffened. What did Nomu mean by that?

The man explained, all the while not looking at Tezuka's face but rather at the stack of paperwork on his desk. In a slow but steady spiel of words, the truth issued from Nomu's ready mouth.

"You are aware that Echizen-kun lives at a temple, isn't that so? When I... gathered the information for my dossier, it became apparent to me that this temple was merely a temporary living arrangement. His uncle, who is currently abroad, owns that temple and he will return to Japan in precisely ten days from now. That is, three days after the finals of the Mixed Doubles championship. Echizen-kun's school enrollment data states that he will not return to Seigaku after the summer break."

He coughed before finishing up with his speech.

"In other words, in ten days from now, Echizen-kun will go back to America and in all likelihood, he will not return to Japan for a while."

**

* * *

**

Perhaps it was merely because evening was drawing near, but at that moment, Japan seemed to grow cold. It was as if all the warmth had been vacuumed out of the atmosphere. That was a silly notion, however, seeing as Ryoma was sitting inside of a bus. Weather was surely not the cause of the quiet, yet tingling tension he could read in the air. All eyes were on him and it was all because of what Fuji had said.

"_Tell me, what entices you more? Finishing that match – or doubles?"_

Ever since pairing up with Sakuno, he had never seriously considered the question. Of course, there was that time when that weird middle-aged guy had asked him if he liked Sakuno or Ponta more and Ryoma's reply was mainly said out of a desire to defy people's preconceived expectations. It occurred to him that even then, he'd deliberately avoided thinking too deeply about Sakuno for some reason he wasn't quite sure of.

When he considered everything, though, Ryoma was quite certain where his heart lay. The people around him liked to complicate things but for him, his road was clear. Much as he wanted Ponta, he wanted to be the best at tennis even more. There were certain obstacles that he had yet to overcome. Playing doubles made him realise that. It wasn't as if doubles with a girl was making him go _soft _or anything ludicrous like that, which was probably what his seniors assumed, Fuji notwithstanding. Ryoma wasn't so stupid that he couldn't notice when his seniors were concerned about him.

Naturally, it was because Ryoma certainly was an intelligent person that he managed to sort out his thoughts quickly and respond to Fuji's question.

"I play to win. Are you worried that you'll lose to me, senpai?"

"So singles it is?" Fuji pressed him swiftly.

Ryoma closed his eyes... and nodded.

**

* * *

**

"I'm sorry for keeping you like this," Nomu said to Tezuka. "You must have things to attend to."

"As do you," Tezuka replied. Whether he liked the idea of it or not, Tezuka had served his purpose and Nomu, being the busier man, had to cast him aside. There was really no need to keep that sentiment hidden behind a veil of good manners. Nevertheless, Tezuka went through the motions of bowing and saying farewell and as he did, his mind was working furiously to dissect the information that Nomu had given him.

So Ryoma was leaving for America imminently... Was he aware of this? Well, he had to be if he was departing in only ten days. Tezuka had to ensure that Oishi knew about this so he could arrange a farewell party or something along those lines. After all, Echizen had won Seigaku the Nationals trophy.

Tezuka closed the door of Nomu's office and walked into the elevator. The familiar 'ding' sound of the elevator sounded like it was very far away. Tezuka was absorbed in his concerns for Ryoma.

Nomu was startled because if Ryoma left, he would be out of reach. Tezuka was startled because Ryoma had only just started to pursue something before all of this occurred. There was that day of the preliminary round of the Mixed Doubles championship to consider. Tezuka could recall the the suspense in waiting, the pride he had felt in Ryoma winning his first official mixed doubles match and he could also remember exactly what he had said to himself that day.

"_It's the end of one thing and the start of something new."_

Ryoma was growing and changing as a player. Singles wasn't all that there was to tennis and Ryoma was beginning to realise that for himself. The result would end up with Ryoma being a more conscientious and all-round sportsman rather than the single-minded specialist he had initially set out to become.

In a way, he was taking an alternate to path to the one Tezuka had walked, two years ago.

It would be difficult, especially if his growth would be stunted by him leaving so abruptly.

_Ding_, the elevator chimed. Tezuka was now on the ground floor. That was enough to bring him back to reality. Tezuka was going to see for himself what would happen, not dwell on possibilities. That he decided on with his own brand of characteristic firmness.

**

* * *

**

It wasn't long after that when the bus stopped right outside the gates of Seigaku. The boys, spurred on by the thought of imminent competition, were not slow in getting off, leaving the girls and the innocuous bus driver behind. Sakuno opened her eyes drowsily and peered at Tomoka, a sleepy, apologetic smile on her lips.

"Ah, Tomo-chan, I fell asleep on you," she said. "I'm sorry." She'd been snoozing for the entire return trip from the beach.

Tomoka didn't seem to mind that. She was quivering with excitement. "Come on, Sakuno, let's go! Ryoma-sama and Fuji-senpai are having a serious match! Oooohhhh, don't you wanna see who wins?"

"Oh!" Sakuno blinked. Any chance to see Ryoma play was good enough for her, at least, she thought so. Some inner voice disagreed. She had been demoted to lowly supporter once more. But she'd never hoped for anything more to begin with... right?

"You look troubled," Tomoka remarked with concern. "Is something wrong, Sakuno?"

"N-No, not really," Sakuno squeaked. Her face went red as she confessed, "I want to see Ryoma-kun..."

Tomoka patted her on the back, smiling. "So do I. Come on, let's go!"

After thanking the bus driver, the two girls eagerly stepped off the vehicle. As they hurried through the gates of Seigaku, they could hear the bus start up and drive away down the road. They pressed on towards the tennis courts, not looking back.

Fuji and Ryoma were already on the court by the time Sakuno and Tomoka arrived. They were just about to start the first point by the looks of it.

"Geez, they're quick!" Tomoka grinned as she settled down to watch from behind the fence. Sakuno propped herself beside her friend and brought her hands up to her chest as she peered on. Fuji was serving the first point and Sakuno was anxious not to let any detail slip her by.

The Seigaku regulars were the same. Inui, Kawamura, Oishi, Eiji, Momo and Kaidoh all looked on with interest. Inui in particular paid close attention, his infamous black notebook opened up to a blank page. He had a pen in hand, ready to commence writing. The other regulars stood with their arms folded or down their side. That the normally exuberant Eiji made not a twitch or fidgeted at all spoke volumes of the gravity of the situation. This was a showdown that no one was prepared to miss.

Sure enough, the sparks between Fuji and Ryoma flew right from the get-go. They knew each other well and there was no need for them to probe each other even in their early points. Ryoma unleashed one signature move after another, the intensity plainly visible through his features. Fuji responded immediately with his own unique brand of tennis: his Triple Counters. There would be no stopping the two of them.

Tomoka cheered and waved yet both players ignored her very existence. It was apparent how much effort how much effort they were putting into their tennis. Soon enough, both of them were sweating heavily. Fuji's eyes were open, gleaming with sheer exhilaration. Not once in the entire match did he close his eyes.

The two of them stopped only to switch ends and to turn on the lights when it became dark. They played into the night and the lights gave their bodies a surrealistic glow, as if enhancing the feel of their almost inhuman skill. Yes, they were that good, and Fuji in particular played as he had never played before. His effeminate features were in stark contrast to the power of his shots, and Ryoma met him keenly, blow for blow.

One thought, alone and unbidden, came to Sakuno as she watched, spellbound. This was tennis. This mesmerising, passionate sport was almost like magic in the way that it kept her unblinking gaze fixed solely upon the action. At times, she could not see the ball or even follow the movements of the players, but she was purely and utterly satisfied with what she saw. She was looking at the part of Ryoma that she whole-heartedly admired and she was content to watch him like this for however long the match went.

She witnessed an intense rally between the two tennis prodigies. Fuji and Ryoma fired heavy shots to each other from the baseline, each one running corner to corner, back and forth. Ryoma let out a harsh grunt as he attacked the ball, sending an angled shot that landed mere inches from the doubles court. Sakuno knew for herself what a difficult shot that was for she failed to get it right even in doubles. For Ryoma to pull off such a daring move in doubles was an indication as to how talented he was.

But Fuji was talented too. Noticing where the ball was going, he used the split step and charged over to it just in time to hit it with the frame of his racquet. He sent a lob high into the air and quickly fought to regain his balance as Ryoma leaped into the air for a finishing smash.

Sakuno's stomach flipped over suddenly as she realised what Fuji was doing.

Ryomka brought his racquet down – hard – and the ball pelted down from the air like a bullet, clipping the net during its descent. Fuji was ready for it.

"Higuma Otoshi!" Oishi gasped, for that was precisely what Fuji was doing.

Fuji reached the ball quickly before it bounced and bringing his racquet down, he rotated his body sharply. The ball flew into the air and soared over Ryoma's head. Ryoma could only watch as the ball bounced right next to the line.

"Out," he announced calmly with just a hint of smugness in his tone.

"He's right!" Momo scratched his head. "But how...?"

"This match is an exact repeat of the last match they had together," Inui said, sounding stunned for once. "Echizen countered the Higuma Otoshi by smashing the ball into the tap and fractionally altering the spin."

There was an awed silence among the onlookers, unnoticed by Fuji and Ryoma.

"The score's 4-3," Fuji said to his opponent softly. "This was where we were forced to stop."

Ryoma nodded his agreement.

Fuji added, "From here, let's play without regrets."

And they did.

**

* * *

**

Tezuka had initially intended to go home and study after his appointment with Nomu, seeing as it was getting late. That changed when his cell phone rang and he heard Oishi's urgent yet excited voice respond to his greeting.

"Fuji and Echizen are playing a serious match at Seigaku. Come and see for yourself! There'll be a definitive winner this time but I can't tell you who it'll be yet."

Tezuka's eyes widened ever so slightly. The grip on his phone tightened.

"All right," he said, and he flipped the lid on his phone, ending the call. He immediately made a turn on the path he was walking. Briskly, he set out for Seigaku.

_Why now? _That was the the thought pulsating through Tezuka's mind. The first round of the Mixed Doubles championship would start tomorrow. A serious match with Fuji would be sure to exhaust Ryoma and to alter his performance. It meant that Ryoma was still teetering on the edge, whether he was aware of it or not. If he was still like that by the time he left for America, then...

Just then, Tezuka spotted the familiar gates of Seishun academy looming ahead of him. They were still open, despite the late hour. Tezuka could see the luminescent lights of the tennis court shining like a beacon towards the far left of the school. Clearing his face of all expression, he walked over to where the action was taking place. It was an easy enough task finding the only two players who were playing a match at the school at that moment. When Tezuka arrived, he was greeted by the sight of Fuji and Ryoma shaking hands at the net. He was too late.

Turning his head aside, Tezuka fixed his gaze on the small crowd watching. The regulars were there and so were Sakuno and Tomoka. Everyone was caught up in a stunned silence. When Tezuka stopped among them, each person gazed at him dumbly. Tezuka didn't attempt to coax out any words from his team mates. He just folded his arms and frowned sternly.

Tomoka was the first to speak. Even then, she spoke shakily, still in shock.

"Ryoma-sama... lost."

**

* * *

**

**Next chapter: **Round 1 of the Mixed Doubles championship begins! But what's this? Ryoma's not being himself. Next time, it's Sakuno's turn to protect Ryoma! Don't miss out!

(...Lol.)


	13. A Rocky Start

**Author's note**: Dude, did I just update Prince of Ponta?

Credit goes to o0fuYuHAnAsHIrAZuKI0o for the OCs in this chapter. Akira and Akio were first introduced in chapter 6 but not much was said about them, really, so I wouldn't be surprised if you don't remember they existed at all. If that's the case, consider this chapter their introduction.

**Chapter 13 – A rocky start**

The next day, the sun rose over yet another busy Tokyo morning. It was noisy as usual and the traffic was heavy yet moved at a brisk pace. All in all, the day was shaping up to be a fairly cheerful one for two young tennis players on their way to the Mixed Doubles championship.

The Kidomiya twins, Akio and Akira, sat side by side in their father's car as it drove along the busy metropolitan street. The girl Akira was silent; as if to distract herself from being nervous, she was running a finger through her long and sleek purple hair. Her identical brother Akio was not saying anything either but his tool for distraction was much more efficient than his hair, He was totally absorbed in a handheld video game. His thumbs moved with steady coordination, pressing the buttons with consummate ease. Akira shot him an envious glance – she wanted to play as well. Her head slowly tilted to the side as she attempted to glimpse what was going on in the screen. She had just gotten herself a decent view, her head leaned against her compliant brother's shoulder, when her father in the driver's seat spoke.

"Stop mucking around with that game. We're almost there." His voice was low, stern and uncompromising. "There'll be time for warm up, but not much, so make the most of it."

Akira snapped her head up guiltily. "Yes, father!" she insisted, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment. All she could see of her father was the back of his head.

With an air of nonchalance, Akio turned off his game and stuffed it into the pockets of his shorts. "Who are we playing first?" he asked casually.

"According to the schedule, you're playing Echizen Ryoma and Ryuzaki Sakuno, both aged twelve like you two," their father replied. "Don't worry, though. I've done all the research for you. According to the Monthly Tennis Magazine,Echizen Ryoma played Singles 1 at the finals of the National tournament." He coughed. "But as I've told you before, standards in junior high school tennis are low. They're all amateurs. Akira, you are aiming for pro."

Akira could not remember how many times her father had delivered this particular speech to her. At any rate, she'd heard it often enough that she'd come to believe it, as surely was her name was Kidomiya Akira. She knew what she was compelled to say next.

"That's why I'm not allowed to join the school's tennis club. Because they're all amateurs."

"That's right," Mr Kidomiya enthused. "You're learning. You'll do well today, Akira."

"What about me?" Akio grumbled as Akira bowed her head to conceal her blushing.

"Oh, you too, Akio," Mr Kidomiya added, with not quite as much enthusiasm as before.

Akio paused for a moment to digest the words. "I thought so," he then said, and grinned boyishly.

**

* * *

**

Ryuzaki Sakuno was in a very awkward position.

She was lost.

Well, not in the physical sense, really. She knew perfectly well that she was in her grandmother's car and that the car was parked outside of her partner Echizen Ryoma's house. Ryuzaki-sensei was knocking on the front door and Sakuno waited for her to return with Ryoma. The problem was that she felt guilty about waking him up so early in the morning.

No. She was just ducking around the real issue. The truth was that she didn't know if Ryoma would want to play with her. Last night, he'd gone home alone in no mood to talk with anyone. After all, for Echizen Ryoma to play a serious match and emerge the loser was something nigh unheard of. Sakuno knew that Fuji was a genius and yet she presumed that by this stage, Ryoma was the better player. To say that he'd improved a lot since coming to Seigaku was a major understatement. And yet last night, the true extent of his improvement had failed to come into play. It was like he'd hit his peak in singles and had then gone backwards. Not so with his doubles.

A sudden chill came over Sakuno. Was Ryoma's loss... her fault? Had he gotten worse because he'd been playing with her? That couldn't be right. Yet still, Sakuno leaped at the opportunity to blame herself. She'd rather do that than to judge Ryoma for how that match with Fuji went. She could remember just earlier on in the day that same Fuji had invited them to play cricket – _to make Ryoma and Sakuno better at doubles._

Sakuno held her head in her hands and groaned.

Just then, she heard the car door open. Her spine suddenly tingled as a person sat next to her. "R-Ryoma-kun, you came!" she gasped, turning her head to look at the newcomer.

Ryoma only grunted in reply. He looked annoyed. His hair was untidy was if he'd only just risen out of bed. At least he was wearing his tennis clothes, not his pyjamas. At that moment, Sakuno saw him as something less than the awe-inspiring Prince of Tennis. He was just a boy.

All of a sudden, she felt very ashamed for having thought such a thing. She quickly looked away, her face bright red with embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Ryuzaki-sensei started the ignition of the car as she did, she said, "Glad to see you've turned up after all, Echizen. Looking forward to some doubles today?"

Ryoma said nothing.

"Geez." Ryuzaki-sensei shook her head. "What about you, Sakuno?"

"Er, a little bit..." Sakuno knew very well that her grandmother thought that they were both acting very oddly and that they had no chance of winning. At least, not the way things were looking at the moment. Not with their attitude.

The car trip passed in silence. Time waited for no one. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, they'd arrived at the tennis centre. The atmosphere, however, never changed.

**

* * *

**

"Did you hear? Osakada rang me up and told me."

"Yeah, she rang me up too. She woke me when I was trying to get to sleep."

"I can't believe what she said, though."

The freshman trio, Horio, Kachiroh and Katsuo, were walking down the suburban metropolitan street together. As usual for the three of them, they were standing very close to each other as they conversed in hushed, awe-stricken tone. At least, that was the case with Kachiroh and Katsuo. Horio had a very loud voice.

"But you know – Echizen had to lose sometime," Horio declared with a self-important shrug of his shoulders.

"You're just saying that because you lose all the time," Katsuo countered swiftly, provoking an indignant snort from Horio.

As he was speaking, he and the other two freshmen stopped in their tracks. They stood outside the Tsuchiya equipment store that they often frequented. Horio wanted to buy new shoes and Kachiroh fancied some extra grip tape, so they had all decided to go together. Horio quickly forgot Katsuo's verbal barb as he opened the door to go in and noticed who was in inside. It was Fuji. He was kneeling to examine a crate full of brightly coloured tennis balls. He was smiling as he held and peered at each ball, not one of which were green. There were red, purple, blue, orange and even rainbow-coloured balls inside the crate. An odd assortment indeed.

"We got those balls shipped from Taiwan," the mild-mannered shop clerk was explaining to the politely nodding Fuji. "They're for kids but they're cheap."

"They don't have very good bounce," Fuji remarked, "but they're so very easy to take note of. I wonder if my disappearing serve would work with these balls." There was nothing Fuji liked better than a good experiment to test his skills under different situations.

Horio stopped short by the entrance to watch all this play out, and Kachiroh and Katsuo almost bumped into him. After a pause, Kachiroh whispered,"It's Fuji-senpai. Weren't we just talking about him?"

"Hm?" Fuji turned his head slightly and noticed the three boys standing at the doorway awkwardly. The smile remained on his face and he waved in a friendly manner. "Good to see you three here," he said, cheerfully enough.

"Fuji-senpai." Horio looked somewhat flustered. "Er, we heard about last night. You and Echizen..."

Fuji's smile faded.

"Ah, is that so?" He adopted a neutral, somewhat stony expression. "It's surprising news. It shocked me, even."

"Why should it surprise you?" Katsuo asked. "You used your impressive skills to win. That's why you're a genius, Fuji-senpai."

"Would that be so..."

Fuji really was an enigmatic figure. Or maybe he was just humble.

With a faraway look in his eye, the tensai went on. "Something happened when we reached the midway point of that match. Up to that point, we had been equal. Then I raised my game and Echizen did not. It makes me wonder if he was holding himself back."

The freshmen caught their breath in unison and they eyed Fuji with sceptism.

"Ryoma-kun holding himself back?" Kachiroh and Katsuo repeated incredulously, while Horio stood with his mouth agape.

"But he wasn't holding himself back," Fuji went on sadly. "How do I explain it? You see, I'm not sure you've noticed or not, but Echizen has not used the _Muga no Kyōchi_ since Nationals. We all thought it was because he didn't need to, but Tezuka suspected that it was actually because Echizen couldn't. I put Echizen in a situation where he would need to use that ability in order to defeat me, and he didn't use it. That must mean Tezuka was right."

"But why?" Kachiroh gasped. He could feel the tension prickling in the air and he waited urgently for Fuji to respond.

The tensai merely shook his head.

"Who knows? That technique is achieved through having having fun playing tennis, right? I have fun playing tennis and the same goes for you, but neither of us have mastered the technique. As far as I know, only Echizen has managed to open all the doors. Maybe it is a thing that can be done only once. What I do know is that I don't blame Ryuzaki. This kind of thing doesn't just happen through playing doubles."

Fuji looked down at the recently mopped floor. There was still something empathetic about the way he spoke.

"What I do know is that Echizen is probably feeling frustrated. I put him in a bad position. It was thoughtless of me."

Katsuo gazed at Fuji with understanding. He said sadly, "No, Fuji-senpai, I think you're a caring person. I think all we can do now is wait and hope that Ryoma-kun will pull through."

**

* * *

**

Ryoma knew that he had to get over his dejection if he wanted to win.

He knew that, yet for some reason, he just couldn't quite manage things like he normally did.

He was frowning as he made his way into the stadium where the Mixed Doubles championship was taking place. There were plenty of people around but they were just distractions. He tried to focus on Sakuno and think about the Ponta, but it all sort of seemed irrelevant after Fuji.

Why couldn't he hit a winner against Sakuno? It was starting to annoy him.

"R-Ryoma-kun," Sakuno squeaked, "you just hit the ball out. Please concentrate."

Only a day ago, Ryoma recalled, when it came to Sakuno, he'd been... well... he'd thought she'd gotten a bit better, that was all... Today, however, all he could think about was that she sucked and her hair was way too long and he was wasting his time.

"It's as if there's a shell around you," he remembered she once said to him. That was the only time he had ever found her truly annoying. But his subconsciousness buried that feeling deep, because he was not meant to regard his partner as annoying.

Doubles was pointless, though. So now he brought up the feeling and brooded on it to his heart's content.

On the other side of the net, Sakuno shivered a little. She could sense that Ryoma had retreated into himself and he wasn't going to open up to her about it. He was cold today, not close to anyone... just like when they'd first met.

And he wasn't playing like himself either. She could actually keep up with him in a rally. That was not a good sign.

When finally, Ryoma hit one past her, Sakuno actually smiled in relief.

"Good shot, Ryoma-kun!"

"Hn."

Was this what getting shot down felt like? Sakuno wondered.

She sighed and was reaching for another tennis ball when her eyes caught sight of the rally on the adjacent practice court.

Two purple-haired youngsters – a boy and a girl – about the same age as her. _Wow, they're good! _Sakuno's eyes widened as she noted the pace of the rally. Wasn't this just supposed to be warm up? At that moment the girl turned her head slightly and noticed Sakuno looking. Their eyes made contact.

Striking yellow eyes. Sakuno hastily turned her head away.

But... Ryoma could beat them, she reminded herself. She wasn't about to lose faith in him. She'd thought a lot last night, about what she thought of Ryoma and what she wanted to achieve with him. Watching him play instead of playing with him had almost felt like a new experience, but standing here today hitting tennis balls with him... She'd never stopped being his supporter after all. Maybe she'd become more of one instead.

Ryoma's attitude alarmed her because... because she thought she saw herself in him a little. The part of her that constantly doubted herself. Even though she couldn't say what she felt to Ryoma out of shyness, she was going to play out her role and hope his old flair would shine through once more.

Glancing once more at the purple-haired children on the adjacent court, Sakuno then turned back to her attention back to her own partner. "Ryoma-kun, we're going to win, aren't we?"

"Hn," he replied, from the other side of the net.

This time, however, she made sure not to sigh.

_I won't make you lose, Ryoma-kun!_

**

* * *

**

**Next chapter**: I have no idea when _that's _coming out, but you can safely bet there'll be some RyoSaku vs. Kidomiya?

(Author's sorry little note: Yeah, I'm a douche. I had, like, 90 percent of this chapter done last year. Then I went to Japan and went to a school called Seishu, which has a badass badminton team that went to Nationals. I kid thee not. But anyway, let's pray to Yukimura for another update?)


	14. Mada mada da ne

**Author's note: **So I read through this fic again and I nostalgia'd and I decided – yep, I'm gonna update again. I want this story finished because leaving it at such a key point in Ryoma and Sakuno's character development seems like such a _waste_. The problem was that I lost interest in writing tennis and didn't know how to approach writing these scenes. My muse has come back to me momentarily, so let's see how far I get.

To everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited or alerted this story over the years – thank you. Thank you so much. Here's an extra long chapter for those who still care.

**Chapter 14 – Mada mada da ne**

Her chin held high, Sakuno faced her first opponents who were standing across the net. Just as she thought, they were the two purple-haired young prodigies she had noticed on the warm-up courts earlier. She glanced towards Ryoma, but he was just peering at the ground in boredom.

For a moment, hesitation swept through Sakuno, touching her coldly. Forcefully, she shook her head, dispelling the unnerving thoughts. Even if Ryoma was not going to do his best, she would. No one would come out away from this match and say she hadn't tried.

The umpire, a boorish woman in her thirties, shuffled in her high seat and announced:

"Kidomiya Akira to serve."

Sakuno watched as the purple-haired girl bounced the ball meticulously – one bounce and then one more for good measure. Her mouth formed a grim line.

As Akira tossed the ball in the air, Sakuno remembered her training. She bent her knees.

The ball came towards her, skidding low against the surface of the court. She returned it as hard as she could, stepping into the shot with all the weight in her legs.

_Ryoma-kun. Ryoma-kun!_

The ball sped over the net. It went deep. Akira was standing behind the baseline as she returned the shot and she grunted slightly in exertion.

Sakuno breathed in quickly. Then she dashed forward towards the net.

"Ryuzaki," she heard Ryoma say beside her, "what are you-?"

She had never played so aggressively before. As she reached the net, she steeled herself – she could see the ball coming towards her so quickly. Reflexively, she stuck her racquet out and let the ball bounce against it.

The ball only just made it over the net. It bounced once, and then it bounced again. It was a drop volley. The other Kidomiya – the boy – tried in vain to scramble for it, but he only reached it on the second bounce.

"Love fifteen!" the umpire announced.

Sakuno's expression did not flicker in the slightest. She only exhaled through her teeth and went back to her position.

She could do this. She could. She would.

* * *

"Omigosh! Yay! Sakuno! Woooooooooooo!"

There was only one person in the world that could put so much energy into cheering after just one point.

Tomoka had turned up to the stadium to watch her best friend play. She even got to her feet and applauded after Sakuno won that first point, and Ryuzaki-sensei had to put a finger to her lips and tell her to _shhh quiet down_.

The next point was starting and the entire stand hushed into a pregnant sort of silence.

It was the first time Tomoka had ever seen Sakuno and Ryoma play in a match. Sure, she had watched the two of them practise together but it simply wasn't the same kind of feeling. And she had never seen Sakuno look so _determined_.

"They're going to win, right?" Tomoka whispered to Ryuzaki-sensei. "They have to – they've come all this way!"

But Ryuzaki-sensei said nothing, only crossed and folded her arms. The point was still playing out.

Out on the court, Sakuno was trying to make the same aggressive plays that had brought her success earlier, but the Kidomiyas had solidified their defences. They stood their grounds and returned every shot Sakuno tried to hit past them. It was just one point, but tennis was that sort of game where the dynamics of power could shift in an instant. Her eyes flashing in resolve, Sakuno swung her racquet against the ball with all of her strength – and she was disappointed to see the ball go out. She had missed by only half an inch.

"So close!" Tomoka gasped, wringing her hands.

"The trick is consistency," Ryuzaki-sensei explained heavily. "For someone of her level, Sakuno is playing very, very well."

"But she can't be like that in every point," Tomoka mused. "Not like Ryoma-sama."

And yet it was strange. Even as she said that, Tomoka found herself wondering what Ryoma had even done so far in the game. The match went on, and Tomoka found herself peering at him expectantly, waiting for him to show off his amazing tennis always. Even Tomoka, a total newb at the game, could notice when Ryoma was playing at his best.

She could also notice when he was playing terribly.

Perhaps that wasn't the right word for it. He was hitting the ball back whenever it came to him, getting into position and following through with his shots with nothing less than consummate ease. Yet his movements were so mechanical – so half-hearted, like he was just going through the motions – and the power was lacking in his plays. He wasn't using any special abilities, naturally. It was Sakuno who was doing all the running.

"Oh no," Tomoka groaned. "The match with Fuji-senpai really got to him. He's not playing like he should be!"

She could only watch in despair as the first game went to the Kidomiya siblings. In spite of Sakuno's best efforts at the net, she was helpless when Akio smashed her volleys right past her.

As the players switched ends, Ryuzaki-sensei started to thumb through the booklet she had purchased at the stands. It contained all the player data on each of the competitors. She stopped when she came across Kidomiya Akio's entry.

"Kidomiya Akio, 152cm, blood type A. An all-rounder, though he specialises at the net when he plays doubles." Ryuzaki-sensei frowned in thought. "So that explains it."

"What explains what?" Tomoka asked stupidly.

"Kidomiya Akio is able to defeat Sakuno because he's comfortable at the net. Sakuno is not a net player, so she's really pushing herself to match him."

Tomoka could see that. Even though Sakuno tried so hard, she just couldn't get it past him…

"That first point was really misleading, huh?" Tomoka said, sighing. Then she shook her head willfully and started gnawing on her nails. There was no other way she could fight away her anxiety.

Yes, on closer inspection of the match, Sakuno had no chance at all, not against the Kidomiya twins.

* * *

2-0.

From his front line seat, Mr. Kidomiya's eyes bored down on his children.

"Don't slip up," he said sternly, directing his words towards Akio. "You can't afford to lose a single game."

"I know," said Akio, almost irritably. He knew his father would not have said the same words to Akira, not in that same insinuating tone, at least. Even so, he was smiling as he took the ball. As he swallowed deeply, the smile faded, replaced by a grim look of concentration.

"Here I go," he said firmly.

* * *

_Okay_, thought Sakuno, settling into position. She was ready.

She couldn't help but notice that Akio's serve was just a little slower than Akira's. It was easier to return, so after Sakuno hit it, she started dashing towards the net. As she did, she almost froze in half-step, startled.

Akio was doing exactly the same thing as her.

Across the net, their eyes caught each other, and Akio grinned sheepishly. He was like a lost puppy, Sakuno thought.

Then he brought his racquet across to his side, over to where the ball was coming at him. Sakuno wrenched her gaze away from her opponent and focused on the ball, this time nailing her returning volley right on the sweet spot of her racquet.

_There_. She saw the ball soar straight past Akio's ear. He had blinked at an inopportune moment. Sakuno let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, thinking the point had been won.

… only to see Akira appear, seemingly out of nowhere, from behind Akio. Her shot came right back at Sakuno, maybe twice as fast as she had hit it. In that instant, Sakuno realised just what kind of prodigy Kidomiya Akira was. She could probably hold her own against the Seigaku regulars. And as for Sakuno, her reflexes were simply not fast enough to cope against such technique.

She was helpless.

The ball went past her and behind her, Ryoma half-heartedly made for the ball. If he had used his one-legged split step, he would have gotten to it, Sakuno was sure. But as it was, only the tip of his racquet connected with the ball, and his shot never made it over the net.

"3-0," the umpire said blandly. "Change ends."

Instead of walking, Sakuno clenched her fist against her face, crushing it against her forehead. She let out a quiet noise of frustration that Ryoma never heard.

Someone else heard it instead.

"Hey, it's okay," a voice across the net said to her.

Sakuno blinked and looked up at Kidomiya Akio. He was smiling.

"We're in the same boat," he said. "You and me. I can tell."

"Stop flirting, bro," Akira said nonchalantly. She was already on Sakuno's end of the court.

"I'm not flirting!" Akio insisted, his cheeks colouring visibly. Then he said to Sakuno, "Wait, am I flirting? I can't tell."

"I think you're just being nice," Sakuno said sheepishly.

"Yay!" said Akio, evidently pleased. "I'm nice."

"Just hurry up and change ends already," Akira responded tartly.

"Coming, sis!"

Sakuno watched Akio make his way over to his sister and she thought – _that's right_. He was the same as she was. Out of the two of them, Akira was the stronger player. The divide wasn't as wide as the one between Sakuno and Ryoma, but still, Akio had to cope with the same problems, right? He had to push himself to make up for the problems that would cause in their combination. He had to come up with his own style of tennis. And he did it because he cared.

After Sakuno made her way to the other court, she closed her eyes. She held the ball in her hand and, in that short span of time before she tossed the ball in the air to serve, she thought of the kind of tennis she wanted to play.

It revolved around Ryoma. It always had, right from the very beginning. She remembered, when she mentioned to him that she had wanted a special technique, he had told her, _"You have to discover your true style of tennis."_ But he had not told her what it was. She had assumed then that it was something she would learn if she started playing tennis for herself and not for the sake of doubles.

Sakuno's eyes snapped open. Now she knew where she had been wrong in her thinking. Now she knew what kind of tennis she was truly her style.

She knew she was sweating profusely, already breathing hard. But when she served, she had it all prepared.

* * *

_Ryoma-kun._

_Ryoma-kun, I knew, right from when we first met, that I would always be in your shadow. Maybe you'd never really notice me ever and that would be okay. I wouldn't mind that._

_It's because, Ryoma-kun, you're the one who taught me that tennis is fun. I don't mind that my tennis revolves around you. It _has _to revolve around you. It's the only kind of tennis I can imagine._

_Ryoma-kun, I'm going to play the kind of tennis that will make you a king._

* * *

She set up the smash for him. After she served, she blocked back every return, until her opponents had no choice but to send a weak lob into the air.

"Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno exclaimed. And even Ryoma, lost in a sea of apathy, could notice this blatant signal for what it was. He jumped into the air and hit his Twist Smash off from it. Even Akira was helpless to return the difficult bounce.

Ryoma opened his mouth to say something.

"Mada mada da ne," Sakuno interjected.

Only the sound of the ball bouncing slowly on the court could be heard. Ryoma faced Sakuno and his eyes widened.

He could not remember being so shocked by something Sakuno had ever said. Those were _his _words. It wasn't like Sakuno's face had even changed a smidgeon either. She was just the same pigtailed girl as ever, smiling sweetly at him.

"Ryoma-kun, you can't win unless we team up," she said.

She had never been so direct with him. Even though she was smiling, for the first time, he noticed the resolve in her eyes. Had Ryuzaki always been this determined?

"I know what my kind of tennis is, Ryoma-kun. And I can't play it unless you play your kind of tennis."

Ryoma tipped his hat over his eyes. "What kind of tennis?" he asked, a little more gruffly than he intended.

Sakuno seemed as if she was about to say more but the next point was about to start. She could see the umpire was starting to get irritated. So all she said was:

"If you can't believe in yourself, please believe in how I believe in you."

She lowered her head and started bouncing the ball, preparing to serve. She did not see how Ryoma furrowed his brow, deep in thought. His hands squeezed his racquet tighter. He was trying to remember how it felt to defeat Yukimura, how it felt to win Nationals.

(How it felt to lose to Fuji.)

And then –

He remembered how it felt to watch Sakuno grow from that weak little player who just wouldn't bend her knees to someone who could set up smashes for him. Even though she annoyed him sometimes, it really wasn't her fault. Even Ryoma knew that he was kind of self-absorbed.

Sakuno could only see Ryoma's back. She could not see how his frown slowly cleared and how, little by little, his patent smirk came back to his face. No point in not trying when there was tennis to be played. What would his senpai think?

* * *

3-1.

"You let your opponents hold serve," said Mr. Kidomiya exasperatedly. "You're still a break ahead, but you can't afford to make silly errors." As he said this, his gaze slid over towards Akio, holding him sternly for a moment.

In the entire game, Akio had made only one mistake with his volleying. He had sent the ball into the net after Ryoma had hit it straight towards his backhand side. It wasn't even really a fault of Akio's playing – it was just that Ryoma was so monstrously _good _at tennis. Akira could see it too, even though Ryoma had refused to play like himself in the first part of the match.

Their father, however, was blind to it. Maybe it was because it wasn't him who was witnessing Ryoma's strength firsthand on the court.

As Akira took the ball to serve, she shook her head ruefully towards her brother. "It's okay, bro," she whispered to him comfortingly. "I'll make sure Echizen doesn't outdo us."

Akira grunted in exertion as she served, sending a fast ball down the middle. Ryoma darted to the side, returning it easily. "Ryuzaki!" he called out, and Sakuno started dashing to the side in response. She moved to cover the gaps that Ryoma had left on his side of the court.

"I'll stop you, Echizen!" Akira retorted, hitting the ball as hard as she could out wide. She aimed it towards a spot where Ryoma was clearly not standing.

It was a big mistake. They didn't seem to realise it, but it was Ryuzaki Sakuno's part of the court.

Sakuno bent her knees low.

"Hyaaaaa!" she cried, and she whipped the racquet against the ball with all the force she could muster. It landed right on the corner of the doubles court – a narrow winner. For someone of Sakuno's standard, it was a magnificent shot.

Akira and Akio were stunned. They looked at each other, mouths agape. Before they knew it, Ryoma and Sakuno had broken the Kidomiya serve.

"3-2," the umpire announced. She was now starting to sit up straight, peering at the youngsters on the court with new interest. What had just happened?

"I see how it is," Ryuzaki-sensei remarked from where she sat, chuckling.

"What is it?" Tomoka demanded. She wished she knew as much about tennis as the coach did. Everything she saw went straight over her head. "How did Sakuno and Ryoma-sama turn the game around?"

"It's their _combination_," Ryuzaki-sensei explained. "Sakuno's style is to _support _Echizen, not to stand out with any moves of her own."

"So her special ability is… not having a special ability?"

"That's right," Ryuzaki-sensei said, nodding. "Echizen draws attention to himself because of his selfish play and Sakuno works around that, supporting his style. They're using the doubles tactics they've been taught but their opponents don't notice that because they become fixated on Echizen. So Sakuno becomes the wildcard!"

Tomoka gasped. "Now that you mention it… Ryoma-sama's really dominating the play. It's like Sakuno's just in the background… I barely even notice her doing anything."

It was like the first day when Ryoma and Sakuno had initially teamed up, only different. Ryoma had hogged the ball then. It was like he was reverting back to that old habit here, except he always seemed to know where Sakuno was on the court, even without looking at her. All those weeks playing doubles with her had clearly helped him with that. Sometimes, when she was in an obviously better position, he left the ball for her, and whenever she hit it, she always seemed to set up a winner for Ryoma to take advantage of. The points were getting shorter and shorter.

It was Sakuno's true style of tennis. More importantly than that, it was Ryoma's too. They matched.

* * *

3-3.

Mr. Kidomiya was tearing out the remains of his greying hair.

"Look," he said, for the first time letting anger come into his voice. "No more playing around, you two."

The twins looked at each other sheepishly.

"No, wipe those silly grins off your faces!" Mr. Kidomiya roared. He banged his fist on the empty chair beside him. "You're going to have to use _that move_."

The twins paled. "Really, father?" Akira asked feebly, her eyes widening.

"Yes, really!" Mr. Kidomiya snapped. "If you're going to dawdle around, you'll lose. I'm telling you to use the Drill Smash!"

Akira and Akio looked at each other uneasily. The Drill Smash was not an ability they used often. It was dangerous. They hated it.

"Do it," their father told them, his frown heavy and thunderous.

The twins had no choice but to oblige.

* * *

"Looks like they're preparing for something," Ryoma remarked. Far from looking concerned, he simply bent down and started tying his shoes nonchalantly. Sakuno admired him all the more for it.

"Ryoma-kun," she said firmly. "We can beat them, can't we?"

"Sure can," said Ryoma flippantly. "You stand over there."

What Ryoma didn't tell Sakuno was that in response to the Kidomiyas' plan, he was just thinking of winging it. It was how he responded to pretty much everything. His confidence was infectious. If Sakuno was physically capable of smirking, she might have tried it at that moment.

"Okay, Ryoma-kun," she said, with quiet confidence.

Akio served the ball towards her and Sakuno returned it as competently as she could. She dashed around behind Ryoma and waited for the return. She watched her opponents carefully. Normally, Akio would have made a normal return crosscourt, but this time, he did something different.

He bent down on his knees, hunching his shoulders together.

Up in the stands, Tomoka could only stare.

"What is that pose?" she asked aloud. Quickly, she turned to the coach. "Ryuzaki-sensei, do you have any idea?"

"Not at all," Ryuzaki-sensei said frankly. Her voice was faint. "I don't think… oh dear…"

They watched as Akira sprinted over to her brother and jumped on his back, springing off it like a trampoline.

"This is the true power of the Kidomiya combination!" they exclaimed in unison.

Akira jumped up high – higher than any normal middle schooler could jump, thanks to the momentum of her extra leap. In the air, she span around once as the ball came near her and then brought her racquet down with one quick yet heavy smash.

Sakuno grit her teeth together. "I'm going to take it," she said to Ryoma, as the ball came towards her. She stuck out her racquet in front of her.

What happened next seemed to occur in slow motion.

It was like a moment of deafening, gaping silence preceding the utter cacophony of confusion. The ball hit the strings on Sakuno's racquet _and tore right through them. _The ball just kept going, not even slowed by the contact. It slammed right into Sakuno's chest and knocked her back several meters.

"Ryuzaki!"

Ryoma ran straight over to her. Sakuno gasped weakly but was already trying to get back to her feet.

"I'm okay, Ryoma-kun," she insisted. "It doesn't hurt."

Ryoma paused for a moment, looking somewhat unconvinced. Then he said, "Okay."

It seemed like this one word said more to Sakuno about what Ryoma thought of her than anything he could have said or did. Ryoma really was, in the end, just a boy. And the way he had come to respect her was so very like how a boy would act. He trusted her to take care of her problems the way he would trust himself. As Sakuno rummaged her bag for a spare racquet, she couldn't help but smile to herself. She told herself that the pain didn't hurt. She could continue this way.

She never got to find out if she could or not. When she came back, Ryoma's demeanour had changed completely.

It was in his aura and in his stance, in the way he held himself as he prepared for the next point. There was something almost mystical about it, a sense of sheer noble power that swept her off her feet just looking at him.

There was no doubt about it. Ryoma had managed to open the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi _– in the middle of a doubles match.

Wait… wasn't that impossible?

* * *

**Next chapter: **It's time for Ryoma to kick some arse. Welcome back, o'chibi-sama!

**Author's note: **Just a quick thing I thought to mention, but astute readers might notice I've changed the genre from 'romance' to 'adventure'. Why? Because the romance was never the main focus of the story, no matter how much I tried to sell it like that. But I do think Ryoma and Sakuno's developing bond is very important and I hope this chapter managed to convey that.


	15. Muga no Kyochi

**Author's note: **Oh yay! Wimbledon's started! Djokovic had better win this thing… I've got five bucks riding on him…

**Chapter 15 – Muga no Kyochi**

The Kidomiya twins knew that they needed to win. They could feel their father's expectant gaze upon them.

It hadn't always been like this. Their father had been a different man, once upon a time. But that was when their mother was still with them. After the divorce, it was like the only thing Mr. Kidomiya could live for was his children. He quit his job just so he could coach them – without him, the twins would probably not be nearly half as good at tennis as they were right now.

The first time they won a tournament, their father beamed and hugged them and the smile would not fade from his face for days afterwards. Mr. Kidomiya constantly bragged to others about his children, always with such glowing pride that Akira and Akio could not help but feel warm inside even as they reddened in embarrassment. But as the months passed and the victories piled up, the expectations grew with them. Mr. Kidomiya was convinced that he could not be proud of his children unless they were truly special. He was equally convinced that he had squandered the opportunities to make something out of his own life years ago. He would not let the same happen to Akira and Akio.

For his sake, the twins had to win. It just wasn't always so easy. When Ryoma activated the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi_, it occurred to them for the first time that maybe winning wasn't actually an option this time.

"Sis, what do we do?" Akio asked uncertainly. Akira glanced back at their father, who was still frowning towards them, his chest resting against his hands.

"We can't lose hope," she said firmly, turning back to her brother and squeezing his hand supportively.

They paused for a moment. Speaking was useless now; they already knew what they were thinking. Instead, they drew strength from each other, simply from being so close and saying all that needed to be said without the extravagancies of words.

_We have to use the Drill Smash,_ they thought, nodding at each other decisively. Even though it was dangerous, they had no other choice.

So when the next point started, they signalled to each other and began to play in earnest. When the ball flew into the air, high enough for them to smash, they countered the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi _with a Drill Smash. The two major powers clashed – and thus began the most significant point in the entire match. It wasn't match point. It wasn't even game point either. Even so, it would decide everything.

* * *

"Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno squeaked in alarm as the Drill Smash homed in on her partner. Her chest ached, a vivid reminder of that earlier rally. She didn't want to see Ryoma get hurt. The thought filled her with an almost uncontainable panic.

Instead of taking the blow on the full, Ryoma dodged the ball and let it bounce. The ball seemed to stay on the ground for an extra moment longer before coming back up again – it was like it was drilling itself into the court somehow. After a moment, it bounced back up, soaring straight over Ryoma's head before he had any time to react.

So this was how it was, Sakuno thought. If you tried to take the Drill Smash on the full you got hurt, but if you let it bounce it was just so difficult to return.

Ryoma let none of this deter him.

Maybe it was the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi _that gave him the extra strength he needed to reach the shot when he jumped, but somehow, he made it – and he hit the ball straight back over the net. Akira and Akio, who were still recovering from their own jump, couldn't reach the ball in time.

The Drill Smash had been broken.

Akira and Akio looked at each other and that single look was all that they needed to convey to each other the utter feeling of hopelessness that came over them. Behind them, their father buried his head in his hands.

As the match went on, one thing became clear. There were some people out there who were pure masters at what they did, who left you sprawling in their feet behind them. Echizen Ryoma was one of those sorts of people. When you played against him and lost, it was impossible not to realise that there really was a difference between utter genius and everyone else. His was the kind of talent that took years to cultivate and blossomed before the entire world to see. He and Sakuno together barely lost a point after he activated the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi – _it just put him in a whole new class.

The end, when it came, was a respite.

"Game and set to Echizen-Ryuzaki pair, 6-3."

The crowd promptly burst into applause. In their eyes, they had just witnessed some extremely flashy tennis. For Echizen Ryoma, it was no big deal; he was used to all of this. For Ryuzaki Sakuno, the sound of the cheering was deafening but she herself was far detached from it. She could not even begin to comprehend it at first. Listening to it, it was like something in her heart shifted and squeezed and soared. It was her first official match out in a stadium, she realised numbly, feeling her knees turn weak beneath her. She had never really thought about it this entire time. She had been too concerned with the match itself, so occupied with the thought of protecting Ryoma.

She should have been so nervous. She should have slunk off to the toilets and thrown up and then cried to herself. She would have.

Instead, she was so, so light-headed. Whether it was because of the prospect of nausea or because of that immitigable sensation of euphoria swelling up inside of her, she could not say. Either way, her legs turned to mush; it took her a moment before she realised they were no longer supporting her weight.

But she didn't fall. A warm hand clasped around her arm, holding her steady.

"Don't be so clumsy, Wobbly Hips," said Ryoma.

Somehow, this all struck Sakuno as incredibly funny. She giggled and for some reason, Ryoma took that as his signal to let go. After that, he simply tilted his cap over his face and turned to face the Kidomiya twins across the net.

They were utterly dejected. Their heads were held low, their shoulders were hunched and they clung feebly to each other's arms for support.

_That's right_, Sakuno thought, a little somberly. She and Ryoma had brought such misery upon them. Sakuno felt a small twinge in her heart and fought to keep it down. They would have done the same thing, she told herself. They were the same.

Akio was the first one to speak.

"It was a good match," he said bravely, even though his eyes and lips did not agree with his spoken sentiments. He looked ready to cry. "You played really good. We have to hand it to you."

And Ryoma said,

"Mada mada da ne."

Akira blinked, taken aback. Then she smiled ruefully.

"Yeah, we still have a lot more to improve on with our tennis," she said, sighing heavily.

"Well, yeah," said Ryoma, ever the straightforward one. (Ouch, Sakuno thought with a wince.) "But I wasn't talking about that."

He was gazing towards Mr. Kidomiya, who was still unable to look up from his hands. It was like he had super-glued his face to his palms.

"You should play tennis for yourselves," said Ryoma with a shrug. "Otherwise, it's so pointless."

Akira was stunned. "B-But our father-!"

"He's not even the one swinging the racquet," Ryoma pointed out.

Akira glanced back at their father. He appeared to have heard what Ryoma had said because he was no longer covering his face with his hands. Instead, he was peering straight at Ryoma with a curiously strained sort of expression. He had the look of a man who knew the truth and hated himself a little bit for it.

"I… guess you're right," Akira said finally, softly.

There it was – Ryoma's rough brand of kindness. "Ryoma-kun…" Sakuno murmured his name, touched.

Ryoma was about to turn away when Akio began to smile. The purple-haired young boy wiped away tears that never actually came and started to grin boyishly. It really did suit the kind of face he had much better.

"You two are so good! I hope you win this tournament!" He waved cheerfully. "We should hang out sometime, Echizen, Ryuzaki!"

"Hmmmm," Ryoma grunted, although if you looked closely at him, you could see his lips were turned upwards so that his expression was not quite neutral.

"I think you were really strong too," Akio went on, turning to Sakuno. "I thought the way you tried so hard in the first half was really amazing. I think it inspired me a little."

She blushed bright red at the compliments.

"Let's go," said Ryoma, who seemed to have gotten bored with the heartwarming speeches.

"Ryoma-kun, don't be rude, he's just being nice," Sakuno pointed out meekly.

Akio nodded sagaciously. "You should tell me your number too," he added. His face lit up. The thought had only just occurred to him as he spoke. "Hang on, I'll get a piece of paper so I can write it down!"

"_Let's go_," Ryoma said again.

"Er, see you, Kidomiya-kun!" said Sakuno, smiling sheepishly.

Akira stepped up beside her brother and allowed herself to smile in front of an opponent for the first time. It was such a shy smile. Maybe, if one peered closely at it, it was a little breathtaking.

"See you," she said, and then she waved. "Let's play again later!"

* * *

Sakuno came away from the stadium in a significantly better mood than when she first arrived. She couldn't shake the smile off her lips. Even staring out the window watching the scenery go by, she could not help but see bright tennis balls in everything that was round. She kept replaying the moment of victory in her head again over and over. So this was how it felt to play the kind of tennis Ryoma lived and breathed every day of his life. Her first official had been a success.

Her first official match…

Deeply, she sighed in satisfaction and played with the ends of her braids giddily.

"Good job, you two," Ryuzaki-sensei was saying as she was driving. "You have a break day tomorrow and your next match is on the day after. You deserve to rest up." Then she said, "Echizen."

"Yeah?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Good enough," Ryoma replied.

Such a vague, flippant response would have irritated anyone, but Ryuzaki-sensei only leaned back in her seat and smiled.

So the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi _was possible in doubles after all, she thought. In theory, the presence of another person on your end of the court was supposed to distract you from the state of self-actualisation. After all, to enter it, one had to tap into emotions of intense, private pleasure. It was the exact opposite of Synchro. It was Ryoma becoming too accustomed to doubles that had made it impossible for him to enter the zone since the end of Nationals.

Of course, Ryoma was the kind of person who was capable of having his cake and eating it too. She had found herself doubting and worrying over him earlier, but in the end, the Prince of Tennis pulled through.

But then, Ryuzaki-sensei thought, if the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi _revolved around the self, then Ryoma could only really activate it if he accepted his partner as part of himself…

Glancing into the car mirror momentarily, Ryuzaki-sensei noticed that the match must have really exhausted the two youngsters. Of course: the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi _was particularly taxing on the body and Sakuno had carried the weight of the game entirely on her shoulders in the first half. The two of them had fallen asleep and, unbeknownst to either of them, they were using each other's shoulders as cushions in their slumber.

Ryuzaki-sensei chuckled softly.

* * *

When the Seigaku regulars found out that Ryoma had managed to win in doubles again, the ambivalence was keenly felt. They glanced pointedly at each other, not really knowing what to think anymore.

After Tezuka announced the news, he closed his phone (Ryuzaki-sensei had texted him the results) and he said, "Continue with the practice."

No one moved. They were too busy hesitating. Tezuka noted this, but curiously enough, he showed no inclination towards reprimanding the team. He just stood there with his arms folded and his jaw stiff. It was clear he had no idea what to make of the situation either.

"I'm glad o'chibi won," Eiji said quietly.

"So am I," Oishi agreed with him.

They paused, not really knowing what to say beyond that. Fuji closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh.

"Oh, Echizen…"

Those two words perfectly articulated what everybody in the court was thinking. Awkward silence ensued, each regular suffocating under his own thoughts, until the door opened and Inui walked into the scene.

"Huh? What? Where were you this whole time we were angsting?" Momo demanded.

"I was watching the match," said Inui.

"So wait, you were skipping practice?"

"Yes," said Inui. "Yes, I was."

"Twenty laps," said Tezuka automatically.

As Inui obediently started off into a trot, he called over his shoulder, "I collected the data."

When he told the regulars what Ryoma had managed to achieve, they were all stunned. The silence was even more profound than it had been about a minute earlier.

And then the cheering started.

* * *

For his part, Ryoma had been willing enough to heed Ryuzaki-sensei's advice to take it easy the next day, but he really didn't expect Momo to turn up at his doorstep in an attempt to hang out with him. He had been relishing in the luxury of oversleeping when suddenly someone hammered on the front door loudly enough to wake the dead.

"It'll be fun, Echizen!" was what Momo told him when a bleary-eyed, sleep-deprived Ryoma glared at him from behind the doorway. "It's to celebrate your victory!"

"Gonna sleep," said Ryoma, and attempted to walk in the other direction. Momo grabbed him by the back collar of his shirt.

"Oh no you don't! Get back here!"

"Tch."

Ryoma's insolence might seem like one thing, but since the end of the first round of the mixed doubles tournament, he had been feeling more or less satisfied. Satisfied with tennis, his breakfast in the morning – heck, maybe even with life itself. This morning, in fact, he had woken up and discovered Karupin snuggling up to him warmly. With Karupin by his side, Ryoma felt like he could do anything.

For instance: He could use his entire range of special abilities again. He wasn't even sure himself how it had all happened, but he had become awesome again. There was no need to question the awesome.

"How does Ryuzaki even put up with you?" Momo asked exasperatedly.

Ryoma thought about that. "I have no idea," he said frankly.

By that stage, Ryoma was actually fairly awake, save for the occasional yawn or too. He was hoping Momo would shout him for burgers and he wouldn't mind discussing the match either. His dream of Ponta was just that much closer to fruition. Ryoma tried to think about his next opponents, but their names were completely unfamiliar to him. Strange, but he almost felt like he should have recognised the names somehow. He wasn't intimidated or anything like that; he was just faintly curious…

Momo interrupted his train of thought by saying randomly, "Oh, your mind is so full of Ryuzaki, Echizen!"

Ryoma looked at his senpai. Momo seemed as if he was trying to tease him.

Instead of blushing, Ryoma smirked.

"Jealous, senpai?"

"Huh? What about?"

"She's better at doubles than you."

Owned.

Momo looked so indignant, it was rather funny. Ryoma knew that Momo was actually a darned decent doubles player and was, overall, much better than Sakuno in pretty much every conceivable way, but it still didn't stop the act of poking fun at his ego from being a fun sport.

"Hey, don't you remember that time Oishi-senpai hurt his wrist and I played doubles for the team instead? I was awesome then. I'm still awesome."

"Of course, senpai," Ryoma said patronisingly. "Of course."

Momo snorted. He wasn't really _that _upset by all the teasing. Yet talking about his doubles made him think of something quite suddenly…

"Hey, Echizen, do you wanna try playing doubles again with me?"

Ryoma stared at him with mild horror. Ever since that one time he and Momo had played doubles together, he had tried to suppress those awful memories.

"Think about it, though," Momo went on. "We've both improved at doubles since then. I get the feeling it'll be different this time around."

Ryoma considered that. "Maybe," he said.

And so of course Ryoma ended up completely disregarding what Ryuzaki-sensei had said about taking things easy and ended up at the street tennis courts with Momo. Ironically enough, it was the one time the street courts were empty.

"Now what?" Ryoma asked, not sure to feel relieved or disappointed. On one hand, he hated sucking. On the other hand, a part of him was actually really, genuinely curious to see if his and Momo's combination had changed at all. They had learned proper doubles play separately and with different partners, but at the very least they were not going to make stupid mistakes and run into each other while chasing the ball.

"Well, I dunno," Momo said, scratching his head. "I didn't think ahead."

"You never think ahead."

"Neither do you."

He had a point, Ryoma thought, but he didn't say that because at that moment he happened to notice that there were people entering the courts. A whole team of them.

"Hey, look, it's Monkey King," he said.

So it was. Atobe and the rest of the Hyotei tennis regulars recognised Ryoma immediately too.

"What a coincidence," said Atobe with a smirk.

"What are you guys doing here?" Momo asked confusedly.

"Practising," said Gakuto. "_Obviously_." He seemed a little annoyed that Eiji wasn't with the two Seigaku students. Though if his rival had actually been there, Gakuto would probably have been doubly annoyed because that was just how he was. The other Hyotei regulars simply shrugged, not really seeming to care either way about Ryoma and Momo's presence.

"Hey, Echizen, I heard you were playing in the mixed doubles championship," Atobe said.

So it wasn't just the players from Fudomine who had heard of the tournament. "What of it?" Ryoma responded.

"Frankly, that tournament is such a waste of time," Atobe commented, while running a hand through his perfectly styled hair. "I could get a year's supply of Ponta by just snapping my fingers."

Now that Ryoma thought about it, not many people he did know had happened to enter the tournament. He would have expected some of the more decent doubles players in the country, such as Hyotei's very own Silver Pair, to team up with girls and go for the championship title. It wasn't just about the Ponta – it _was _a national tournament. Were the guys Ryoma knew just that starved for female company or what?

"So is there _anyone _in the tournament we know?" Momo asked the question Ryoma was thinking.

"Come to think of it, there is," Atobe said.

"Wait. What? Who?" Momo demanded.

"Geez, didn't you look at the form guide or what?" Atobe asked. Then he said, "It's Sanada."

Ryoma and Momo blinked in surprise. _That _Sanada?

"What other Sanada could I be talking about?" Atobe asked with a snort. "I heard," he went on, smirking, "he's paired up with a very strong girl. Of course, he's not bad at doubles in his own right." He was evidently thinking of that time he had paired up with the vice-captain of Rikkaidai himself.

Ryoma knew that Sanada was not his opponent in the next round, but if he and Sakuno managed to stay alive in the tournament, they would no doubt come against Sanada's team eventually. Was the world ready for another confrontation between Seigaku and Rikkai? Maybe Sanada wanted revenge after his team had lost at Nationals. Maybe that was it.

"Hmmmm!" Ryoma interposed, and while he did not smile, his eyes slowly started to light up at the prospect laid before him. He hadn't felt this way about facing an opponent in weeks, not since the end of Nationals.

Things had just gotten interesting.

* * *

**Next chapter: **Yes, I am setting up Sanada as the final boss. I don't know how or why, I just thought it would seem awesome. Find out next chapter the surprisingly hilarious story of how Sanada got duped into playing mixed doubles. Look forward to some Ryoma and Momo versus Silver Pair action too.


	16. Genny the Great

**Author's note: **I may not be a Rikkai kind of guy, but it frankly shocks me that after all these years of floating around the PoT fandom, I haven't so much as _mentioned _Rikkai in a story. I hope this chapter makes up for my earlier negligence.

**Chapter 16 – Genny the Great**

The first time Sanada Genichirou heard about a mixed doubles championship in Tokyo was when Niou Masaharu dressed himself in a skirt and tried to play in it. "What are you doing?" Sanada demanded when Niou walked onto the court with rouge on his cheeks and a wig on his head.

Niou explained that he and Yagyuu were trying to enter a mixed doubles tournament together.

"You are a disgrace to all living beings," said Sanada. "Get off the court."

"Let him be, Genichirou," Yukimura said calmly. He was sitting at the bench with his eyes closed, a perfect picture of tranquility and serenity.

Sanada frowned, but he listened. He always listened to Yukimura.

Marui walked over to Yagyuu and Niou and promptly gave the Trickster the thumbs up. "Hey, Niou, Yagyuu! You gonna share the Ponta when you win?"

"Of course we will," Yagyuu said kindly. "Most of it must go to Buchou, though. We are doing it for him."

From his seat, Yukimura nodded benevolently.

It was not a well-known fact about the captain of Rikkaidai, but Yukimura had a strong partiality towards soft drink. He had not been allowed to drink any Ponta after he was hospitalised, and he had confessed to Sanada once that life was just so difficult without it. It was just a burden that the Child of God had to bear.

"Hn." Sanada grunted.

He had no choice but to accept that Niou and Yagyuu's choice was truly what Yukimura wanted. And how could Sanada say no to any of that?

So before he knew it, Sanada and the rest of Rikkai were at a registration hall in Kanagawa, watching Yagyuu and Niou play their way through the preliminaries. As expected, the two of them blew through their matches with unrivalled ease. It was only halfway through their final match did they receive their first roadblock.

Up until then, Yagyuu had not really had to use any of his special abilities because the matches were relatively easy. But these last opponents were two high schoolers who clearly had their handle on mixed doubles.

Before the last point, Yagyuu signalled to his partner and said, "Listen, Masa…ko. Masako. I'm going to use the Laser Beam, is that all right?"

"Sure thing," said Niou. He got into position while Yagyuu hit his serve and then followed this up with the Laser Beam.

The Laser Beam was an extremely high-speed technique that perhaps almost surpassed the speed of sound. Naturally, it won the point for the Niou and Yagyuu combination. The problem with it was that its high speed generated wind.

Niou's skirt flapped up.

The umpire stared.

So did Niou's teammates.

"Problem?" asked Niou.

"Why are you not wearing underwear?" Jackal asked numbly.

"Puri," said Niou.

"No, seriously," said Kirihara. "Answer the question."

"I thought that's the way men wear kilts," Niou responded amiably. "Not that I'm a man, of course," he added quickly, noticing the umpire staring at him with undisguised horror.

Marui snorted. "Because all women have peni-"

"You are disqualified," the umpire said sternly, and that was the end of that.

Devastated, the Rikkai regulars left the courts, discussing their next move.

"You should have done this fairly," Sanada insisted. He tried not to look at Niou, who still had not taken off his makeup. "I will play doubles with a female partner," he told Yukimura.

"There's still one more day to sign up, isn't there?" Yukimura thought aloud. "I think I'll talk to my sister about it."

Yukimura's sister did not play tennis. Actually, she was in the tea club and she spent her afternoons wearing pretty kimonos and socialising with other girls. She was shy around boys, which was why Yukimura's teammates rarely ever saw her. She didn't even turn up to watch her brother play at Nationals. (Not that any of their relatives did, though that was beside the point.)

True to his musings, Yukimura did ask his sister for help in finding girls because the next day, he turned up to morning practice with a girl at his side.

She had tanned arms and short, boyish-looking, curly brown hair. Her eyelids seemed permanently half-closed in a state of lethargy – one had to resort to telling her moods from the way her mouth curved. Mercifully enough, she was rather expressive in that way.

"This is Asakura Mio," Yukimura said. "My sister said she's a Nationals level player."

She certainly _seemed _athletic, at any rate, the type of person who spent all of her time outdoors. "Yo," said Asakura, with a half-hearted wave.

"She looks like a slacker," said Sanada suspiciously, as if being a slacker was akin to being the devil.

"Dude, it's seven am in the morning," Asakura told him with a shrug. "This ain't my gig."

"Very tarundoru," Sanada decided.

"Whatever," said Asakura. "Guess we should sign up. I want in on this Ponta."

She yawned.

Sanada glared at her.

"Hey, what's with that face, pal?" Asakura asked him. "Take a chill pill. You know what my philosophy on life is?"

"No."

"It's Hakuna Matata." Asakura grinned a little lopsidedly. "It means no worries."

An average person would have quailed under the scowl that Sanada sent in Asakura's direction. An average person would have run for the hills. Asakura Mio did none of this. She simply went on grinning languidly with her hands behind her head.

"Tell you what," she said pleasantly. "I can't call you 'pal' all the time – you need a nickname. So from now on, I'll call you Genny."

And thus was the beginning of a partnership.

It was all for Yukimura's sake, Sanada told himself firmly. All because of Yukimura. He had to do this. For the team.

_Must… resist… the urge… to bitchslap_…

* * *

When Momoshiro heard the story, he figuratively started to piss himself laughing.

"Are you serious?" he chortled. "Sanada's paired up with _that kind _of girl?"

"I wouldn't underestimate those two if I were you," Oshitari said smoothly. "Their combination is surprisingly strong, given their personalities."

So it was a case of opposites attracting, Ryoma thought to himself. He supposed it made sense, in a way. He had seen and played enough doubles matches by now to know that it was the opposite kinds of plays that complemented each other on the tennis court. He was curious to see Sanada and Asakura's combination for himself, but that would have to come later.

He wanted to become strong at doubles, even stronger than he was right now.

The desire was so searing and powerful it almost took his breath away. He wondered when he had become this way. For a moment, he almost thought Sakuno was standing next to him, smiling at him as if she was proud, but when he turned to look, it was just Momo. From this angle, it looked like he was picking his nose.

"Momo-senpai, let's play," Ryoma said.

"Huh? Okay, sure." Momo turned to the Hyotei regulars. "Any of you want to play doubles with us?"

"Ha!" Atobe snorted. "If that's how you are, prepare to lose!"

"I don't mind playing," Ootori said mildly.

"Heh, neither do I," Shishido agreed. He was pushing back the sleeves of his jumper and stretching his arms as he spoke.

"Oi, Echizen, you think we're ready for this?" Momo whispered.

"Chickening out now, Momo-senpai?"

"Pffft, that's not what I meant!" Momo insisted, rolling his eyes. Ryoma smirked. Momo was as eager to face a new challenge as he was.

As they got on the court, Ryoma tried to imagine Sanada and his partner standing across from him. Just what kind of tennis would they use against him? Were he and Sakuno going to be enough for them? I want to win, Ryoma thought.

But whatever. This was the now, and for Ryoma, it didn't matter, as long as it was about tennis.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sakuno and Tomoka were shopping in town, totally oblivious to the epic tennis happening several hundred metres away from them. Tomoka was hanging off Sakuno in glee and Sakuno herself could do little to remove the satisfied smile that had been present on her face since yesterday.

"I'm so, so, so, _so _sorry I couldn't watch the end of your match yesterday!" Tomoka told her enthusiastically. "My parents called me home to babysit my little brothers again… It totally sucked, but I'm glad you won! You and Ryoma-sama were amazing!"

"Thanks, Tomo-chan," Sakuno said quietly. There was something else on her mind. She was looking for grip tape. These days, it was wearing out quite quickly. She had played a lot of tennis recently, but there was still so much more to come. She had taken a look at the tournament schedule and she had been surprised to note who the next opponents were. She certainly hadn't expected to come against _them _but she would need to prepare…

Tomoka interrupted her train of thought by saying randomly, "Oh, your mind is so full of Ryoma-sama, Sakuno!"

Sakuno looked at her friend. Tomoka seemed as if she was trying to tease her.

Instead of smirking, Sakuno blushed.

"Don't you think tennis is fun, Tomo-chan?" she asked.

"Well, duh," said Tomoka. "It's why I come to cheer you guys on!"

"Yeah…" Sakuno said slowly. "I think it's really fun. I want to play it lots, lots more."

She noticed her hand was quivering in excitement. Smiling, she brought that hand to her chest and held it there so that she could feel the rhythm of her own pulse.

"What are you doing, Sakuno?"

"I'm making a promise to myself."

"What kind of promise?" Tomoka asked curiously.

Sakuno clenched her hand. "A promise not to lose," she said.

Tomoka whistled. "Wow, you're really taking tennis seriously!"

"But of course," said Sakuno.

Tomoka stared at her.

"What?" asked Sakuno.

"Is it just me or is Ryoma-sama's attitude starting to rub off on you?"

"Mada mada desu ne."

Tomoka burst out laughing. Sakuno giggled along with her, her eyes grinning as much as her mouth was.

"Uh, yeah, I guess you're too polite for that," Tomoka said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "That came out so weird!"

Sakuno stopped, her mind suddenly going back to the match from yesterday. "Tomo-chan, actually, I-"

She never finished that sentence. She was interrupted when someone bumped into Tomoka. It was a man on skates. Sakuno blinked and watched, startled, as the man swiped Tomoka's purse as he passed by.

_NOT THIS AGAIN._

"Thief! Thief!" Tomoka screeched, unsuccessful attempting to snatch back her purse. The thief dodged her lunges and skated across the road hastily.

"Wait, Tomo-chan," Sakuno said suddenly, and pulled out her tennis racquet.

"Sakuno, you're not gonna-!"

_Pok._

The man flinched as the ball passed by his head, missing his left ear by a millimetre.

Sakuno had missed.

Darn it, she thought. It was much harder to hit a moving target than it looked. How did Ryoma manage it?

She was about to sigh in resignation because she had no spare balls on her when – literally out of nowhere – another ball appeared and smashed against the side of the thief's head. Startled, the thief involuntarily dropped Tomoka's purse and kept going, quickly disappearing out of sight.

Tomoka scrambled for her purse while Sakuno picked up the two fallen balls. She looked to her left and to her right, but there was no one walking on the street. Surely, she would have noticed someone wielding a tennis racquet.

At some point, Sakuno turned her gaze down the alleyway. She thought she saw movement in the shadows, but when she ran in after it, she looked around carefully and realised that there was no one.

Sakuno frowned.

"Hey, Sakuno, what's up?" Tomoka asked from where she stood on the street.

"Nothing, I guess," Sakuno said quietly, standing up straight.

Whoever had hit the shot, she concluded, couldn't have done it from the typical trajectories. And this person was a master at staying concealed. Just what kind of tennis was this?

* * *

"Hey, Echizen," said Momoshiro randomly.

"Yeah?" said Ryoma.

"Stop sucking," said Momo.

"Shut up," said Ryoma.

This conversation pretty much described how the match against the Silver Pair was going.

Okay. So it had turned out that his combination with Momo had not improved that much at all. Sure, they didn't run into each other now, but Ryoma kept finding himself distracted by Momo's presence anyway. It was like Momo was intruding on his personal space or something; Ryoma was painfully conscious of him wherever he was. Needless to say, the Prince of Tennis was starting to remember why he didn't like doubles.

"Oi, get your act together!" Momo reprimanded him after the two of them lost their fourth consecutive game. From the distance, the Hyotei regulars were laughing at their incompetence. Exasperatedly, Momo shook Ryoma by the shoulders. "I thought you could use _Muga no Ky__ō__chi_ in doubles now."

"Nope," said Ryoma.

"B-But Inui-senpai said-!"

"Only with Ryuzaki," Ryoma explained. He knew because he had tried within two seconds of the match starting, just to see if he could.

"Argh," said Momo. "This sucks."

"So, um," said Shishido, who was bouncing the ball in a bored manner. "You done arguing yet?"

Ryoma vaguely wondered why he had so much difficulty applying the doubles techniques he had learned with a different partner. It seemed like he had gotten so used to playing with Sakuno that he had trouble mentally readjusting to someone else's presence.

"Screw it," said Momo suddenly. "Let's just see if we can get a game off these guys."

At least he and Momo agreed with each other, Ryoma thought. "Yeah, sure," he said, and got into position.

Momo did a Bullet Serve, which Shishido managed to return with the aid of his Dash. At this point, Ryoma used the Cool Drive, totally expecting to have won the point just from that. Then he forgot it was doubles and was dismayed when Ootori hit the ball before he could make use of its special bounce. It was yet another winner for the Silver Pair.

Urk.

He and Momo were just changing ends for the last game when Ryoma caught sight of a rather familiar person walking past the street tennis courts. She turned and noticed him at exactly the same moment.

"Oh, Ryoma-kun!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, hey, it's Ryoma-sama!" Tomoka called out next to Sakuno. She waved.

Ryoma ignored her.

"Now what?" he asked Momo.

"Maybe you should play with Ryuzaki," Momo suggested.

"No," said Ryoma stubbornly. "I'm doing this with you."

Momo grinned. "I'm so touched."

They got into position. Just before Ootori started serving, Ryoma glanced once more in Sakuno's direction. She was watching from a distance, the way she had always done, when it had been Ryoma on the centre stage.

Right on the first go, he managed to return Ootori's Neo Scud Serve and send it hurtling right back at the tall boy. Ootori's own power was too much for him to handle and he fumbled the return.

As he went through the motions, something in Ryoma's mind seemed to click. The serve. The return. Right. That was it. They were vital in tennis, but especially so in the doubles…

_"If you can't believe in yourself, please believe in how I believe in you."_

Faintly, he wondered why Sakuno's words only came to mind now.

In the end, he smirked. "Heh."

* * *

"Game and set to Shishido-Ootori pair 6-1," Atobe announced. His tone was dry. "Wow, Echizen, you really hope to win the doubles championship like that?"

Ryoma glowered at him. So he and Momo sucked together – that didn't matter at all. They weren't playing for Ponta.

"Well, they did manage to take a game off us towards the end," Ootori pointed out, not unkindly. "You broke my Neo Scud Serve."

"Yeah, we have to give 'em that at least," Shishido remarked.

"Yeah, suck on that," said Momo gleefully.

"Don't push it," Shishido retorted.

While the two boys bickered, Ryoma made his way over to Sakuno. "There's something we need to do together," he told her.

"Like what?" Sakuno asked curiously.

Ryoma thought about it. It was a way to make them better at tennis, both of them. It was the reason he and Momo had been able to take a game off one of the strongest doubles pairs in middle school tennis. It all came down to the very fundamentals of tennis. If Sakuno couldn't get the hang of this properly, then there was no way the two of them would be able to take on Sanada and win.

Everything came down to serving. A strong serve would set up the point for the partner, no matter how weak the pair's combination was. By attacking Ootori's serve together, Ryoma and Momo had been able to win that one game. Together, they proved just how important the fundamentals of tennis were.

It was time, he thought, for Sakuno to learn this – the hard way, if necessary.

"I want to serve to you," he said.

* * *

**Next chapter: **We find out more about how Sanada and Asakura play from their first round match. Asakura may have a few tricks up her sleeve, but is she really Nationals level standard? Meanwhile, Ryoma keeps tripping those relationship flags. You can do it, o'chibi! You can get the girl! Fight-o!


	17. The Synergy Pair

**Author's note: **There will be no Sanada/Asakura shipping in this story. I'm not entirely sure about this, but I think Asakura is a lesbian. And if she is, I am totally okay with that.

**Chapter 17 – The Synergy Pair**

The tournament official squinted at Asakura Mio carefully, examining the girl from head to foot. Short hair, tall, baggy t-shirt and shorts, biceps to spare…

"I think we have a problem here," said the official.

"What up?" asked Asakura unconcernedly.

The tournament official frowned. Only one chapter ago, a boy had tried to cheat and enter the tournament via cross-dressing. No one wanted to see a repeat incident of that.

"Oh, is that what's worrying you?" Asakura shrugged. "Well, here, have a look at my nonexistent Johnny…"

"That is not necessary!" Sanada roared behind her. "Put your pants back on, Asakura!"

"'Kay."

As they made their way through the lobby towards the centre court, Sanada told her, "You're too relaxed. Stand up straight and don't slouch as you walk."

It was time for their first round match at the Mixed Doubles Championship. As usual, Sanada was not prepared for defeat. He strode purposefully towards his destination, his tennis racquet grasped tightly in his hand. Behind him, Asakura yawned and stretched as she emerged onto the court.

After the highly dramatic match that had taken place the day before, word had spread about the ridiculously high standards of middle school tennis and the numbers of spectators had increased exponentially as a result. The crowd's eyes were upon both Sanada and Asakura; the stadium stands were packed. It should have been nerve-wracking, but neither of them seemed affected by the atmosphere at all.

At the other end of the court, their opponents stood waiting for them. Aoshima Kosuke and Akashi Rumiko were both in high school and they had the physique to match. Akashi was tall and graceful, her long red hair tied firmly into a high ponytail. Even though her height matched Asakura's, they could not have been more different. On the other hand, Aoshima, the blue-haired boy, was one cool customer. He was not as strongly-built as Sanada but he was taller and his arms were longer. It seemed as if he had a very wide reach.

The two boys acknowledged each other with a curt nod.

"Ready, Genny?" Asakura asked her partner casually.

"Do not call me that," Sanada said witheringly.

They were still bickering up until when the first point started.

As far as first points go, it was nothing special, just a tentative rally as the four players on the court attempted to probe each other out. All four of them could hit the ball hard and none of them made silly unforced errors. They were all solid players.

Yet within a minute of playing, everyone on the court was obliquely aware of the difference in each other's power levels.

It was something that experienced players were able to do. The Rikkai regulars, who sat in the front row watching intently, could see it too.

Sanada and Asakura ended up losing the first point. After a rally full of hard flat shots with no spin, Akashi hit a sudden slice shot from her backhand. Asakura swung at the ball, miscalculated the spin, and sent the ball hurtling way out.

"Whoops," she said nonchalantly.

"Hmph," Sanada grunted, clearly unimpressed.

"That was an easy shot to get back," Kirihara remarked. "Is that chick really a Nationals level player?"

They found out the answer just from watching her play a little longer. Sanada and Asakura were able to take the first game, but the holes in Asakura's playing style became obvious to the trained eye as the rallies went on.

Yanagi summed it up. "She's got good athleticism – _very _good athleticism – but she can't handle spin very well when the ball bounces."

"She's above average, but she's sure not Nationals level material," Marui said. He thought to himself that if he played Asakura in singles, he would probably win with a score of about 6-3 or 6-4.

Needless to say, Sanada was really not pleased with his partner.

"You're not good enough," he told her bluntly as they were changing ends. During the preliminary matches, he had been giving his partner the benefit of the doubt, even if his constant reprimands seemed to indicate otherwise. Now, though, it was painfully obvious that Asakura did not match up to his exceedingly high expectations. "Don't tell me you were lying when you said you were a Nationals level tennis player."

"Huh?" Asakura scratched her head. "When'd I say that?"

"Seiichi's younger sister said you were a Nationals level player."

"Dude," said Asakura. "I'm a Nationals level _volleyball _player."

Sanada was speechless.

"I mean, hey, I'm a sports guru," Asakura went on. "Every weekend, me and my old man and his drinking buddies play all kindsa sports: tennis, baseball, rugby, basketball, badminton, hockey – you name it. I just specialise in volleyball, that's all."

"_You don't play tennis."_

"Sure I do. Every weekend. It's fun. I do like badminton better, though."

"_You don't play tennis_."

"Hey, don't sweat the small stuff," Asakura said, shrugging. "That's just an insignificant detail, right?"

Sanada failed to see how this was in any way insignificant. This explained why Asakura was not able to handle bounces very well. She played tennis often enough and was athletic to such an extent that she got the hang of tough plays very quickly, but she just didn't understand the intricacies of the game.

Sanada wanted to tear his hair out.

"Just… let me handle everything," he said exasperatedly. "Stand over there."

"No can do," said Asakura and, for once, there was something vaguely like a steely glint in her half-closed eyes. "Oi, Genny, you know what synergy means?"

Synergy – when the final product was greater than the sum of its parts. "Of course I do," Sanada snapped. "Don't take me for a fool."

"Great, I was feeling too lazy to explain it anyway," Asakura said. "Synergy's my specialty. Let me take the net."

Sanada grunted. But he did what Asakura said because he was perceptive enough to know that his partner probably excelled at teamwork. All the sports she played in her free time involved team play to some degree.

After he served, he immediately saw what Asakura meant. She was standing lightly on the tips of her feet in front of the net, ready to spring in any direction. Their opponent tried to hit the ball right past her, but suddenly she leapt to the side and hit a perfect volley from it. It was a winner.

Asakura was a pure net player. No matter how hard their opponents hit their shots, the ball could never get past her. Doubles, it seemed, made up for her shortcomings. What better way to get around her trouble with bounces than to not let the ball bounce at all?

Sanada watched, and slowly, he came to understand.

At one stage, he noticed their opponents whispering to each other before a point urgently. That was the point when they managed to lob the ball right over Asakura's head. She jumped, but she could not smash it.

"It's yours, Genny!" she called out.

Sanada moved into position. "Stop slacking off!" he retorted sternly as he drove the ball for a winner.

"Like I said," Asakura said, turning her head around to face him with her ridiculous lopsided grin. "Synergy's my specialty."

"Hmph," said Sanada, and that was about the closest he would ever get to agreeing with his partner. She understood, so the message got across plain and clear, anyway.

The umpire raised his hand. "Game and set to Sanada-Asakura pair 6-0!"

It was, on retrospect, the easiest doubles match Sanada had ever won.

* * *

At length, the Hyotei regulars left the street tennis courts, leaving the Seigaku students to their own practice. When that happened, Sakuno was left peering at Ryoma somewhat confusedly.

"Serve to me?" she repeated curiously, not sure she had heard Ryoma correctly.

"Yeah," said Ryoma. "C'mon."

"O-Okay," Sakuno said shakily, stepping onto the court. Yes, she did need to improve the whole serving thing. After that incident earlier when she had failed to stop that thief with her tennis, she decided she still definitely wasn't strong enough for Ryoma.

"You gonna practise together?" Momo asked Ryoma.

"Yeah," said Ryoma, tipping his hat.

"I'll go get us some burgers then," Momo said. He turned to Sakuno. "Do you want some too, Ryuzaki?"

Sakuno smiled weakly. "I guess so," she said. She watched as Momo and Tomoka left, waving cheerfully behind them.

It was after that she noticed Ryoma was looking straight at her. It was like he was staring into her soul. Actually, it kind of unnerved her a little…

"Don't stand so flat-footed," he said finally.

"Huh?"

"Bend your knees and stand on the balls of your feet. Then you'll return the serve better."

"Um… okay?"

"Here I go," said Ryoma, and then he served.

Sakuno blinked. The ball had already soared right past her.

"Too slow," Ryoma said curtly.

Sakuno blinked once, and then again. She was stunned. She had never been on the receiving end of such a ridiculously fast serve. What the heck was that about?

"Again," Ryoma announced and before Sakuno could react, he hit another serve right past her.

This wasn't training, Sakuno realised. This was slaughtering.

She was about to open her mouth and ask why Ryoma was doing this to her when her eyes caught sight of his stance. As always, his serving style was incredibly fluid, but there was something subtly different about it. Something that wasn't quite… _Ryoma_.

Her eyes widened.

_Ryoma was copying someone else's serving style_.

"Ryoma-kun, who is it?" she asked. "Who are you copying?"

Ryoma looked at her. After a pause, his mouth curled into a smile. "Not bad," he said. "Would be nice if your feet matched your eyes." He hit another serve, which Sakuno failed to return.

It was hopeless; Ryoma wasn't going easy on her. His expression was totally even, betraying no emotion. But of course he had to look down on her. That was just how Ryoma was, right?

It was around this time that Sakuno learned that her willpower and her physique did not necessarily match up. Much as she was determined not to disappoint Ryoma, his serve was just too fast for her to handle. Even if she could sense it coming, she just couldn't raise her racquet quickly enough to get to it. Her body just wouldn't respond.

"Ryoma-kun!" she gasped. "This is too-!"

"Hey, Echizen! Ryuzaki!" Momo's voice interrupted her. "We're back!"

He and Tomoka were back, struggling under an armful of at least fifty burgers. Sakuno stared. When was Momo going to eat all of those?

Ryoma grunted. Even when the smell of burgers wafted in his direction, he didn't even look at Momo.

He hit another serve in Sakuno's direction. Even though she could read the pace of the ball now, the edge of her racquet still couldn't even scrape against it.

"Move your feet," Ryoma said.

"Echizen, what are you doing?" Momo asked. "You're being too hard on her."

For the first time Ryoma paused in his rapid-fire serving. This was how he had learned the Split Step as a child. His father kept serving at him with full strength all day – serves a pro would have trouble returning, let alone a grade schooler. Nanjiroh had never encouraged his son once. Ryoma managed to teach himself the Split Step just to keep up. Nanjiroh had laughed then, told him he still had a ways to go, and then ruffled him on the head, grinning the whole time.

… Was it too much?

"It's okay, senpai," he heard Sakuno say. "Ryoma-kun's as hard on me as he is on himself. I'll be fine."

Ryoma held the ball but didn't serve.

"Ryoma-kun?"

His hand tightened around the ball and then eased, letting it drop. "I'm hungry," he said simply.

Sakuno was wrong. He couldn't be so hard on her. There was just something about her that made him not want to do that.

They ate quietly together. He noticed Sakuno had scrunched her eyes shut as she munched on a burger. She was trying to recall something.

"Um, Ryoma-kun?" she said quietly, timidly.

"Yeah?"

"That serve you've been doing… You've been using your right hand and the action was kind of familiar… Was it Sanada-kun?"

Ryoma looked up. Their eyes met.

He nodded wordlessly.

"Please don't stop, Ryoma-kun."

He chewed, swallowed and then said:

"Fine."

* * *

"So whatchu think of that match, huh, Genny? Pretty fun, wasn't it?"

"I told you not to call me that. It's disrespectful."

Sanada and Asakura were making their way back to the stadium entrance where they would meet their team. Sanada was still a little surprised that they had won so easily, yet it still didn't stop him from being disgruntled by everything his partner said.

As they were making their way through the lobby, they heard voices. The lobby was only open to players and tournament officials. Sanada and Askura saw two rather good-looking high school students, a boy and a girl, standing with a not-so-good-looking middle-aged man. The middle-aged man was talking to them eagerly.

"So, Aso-kun, Obata-kun, you won your first match today. How do you feel?"

The boy opened his mouth to say something, but the girl beat him to it. "It feels pretty good, thank you, Nomu-san." She nudged the boy in the ribs as if to say: "Shut up, Kenichi!"

"You are the Couple Cleaver of high school tennis, I heard. Just this round I heard your opponents say they never want to be near each other again. How do you do it?"

"Oh, we have our ways, I guess," Obata Nodoka replied airily. "Breaking people up is our specialty. If our opponents stop having fun playing tennis, it makes it all the more fun for us. Right, Kenichi?"

Her elbow dug into him.

"Stop it, Nodoka. You stink."

"Look who's talking, peabrain. You did nothing the entire match. All you did was flirt with the lineswoman!"

Sanada walked right past the dysfunctional duo, sparing them hardly a glance. But Asakura stood where she was, her expression neutral. Sanada turned back and frowned at her but she seemed not to notice.

"I see, I see," Nomu Kenta chirped, looking even more eager than he had before. "And how do you feel about your upcoming match against Echizen-kun? Will you be able to break up his partner?"

At the mention of Ryoma's surname, Sanada finally had his interest piqued. He stopped. Asaura was still standing some distance away from him, staring at the Kenichi and Nodoka levelly.

"Sure we'll break them up," Kenichi said confidently. "Then I shall be with the pigtailed girl!"

Nodoka rolled her eyes. Then, in answer to Nomu's question, she said, "Their relationship has become more complicated over time, I think. What we try to do is take advantage of someone's feelings when they're confused. That's how our tennis works."

"Thank you for your time," Nomu said pleasantly. He was smiling.

The Couple Cleaver and the Ponta spokesperson walked off. As they faded into the distance, Sanada thought he heard the girl squeal: "Kyaaaaa! What a cute doggy! I'll call her Mary! Kenichi, isn't Mary so cuuuuuuuute?"

Even further in the distance, a stranger's voice: "H-Hey, that's my dog! Stop! Thief!"

"Are you finished standing there?" Sanada asked Asakura pointedly.

Asakura cocked her head towards him.

"Hey, Genny," she said. "What did you think of that pair's tennis style?"

"Utterly terrible," Sanada replied promptly. He saw no merit in messing with people's minds. It just wasn't in the spirit of the game.

"Ha," Asakura chuckled. "Looks like we agree on something for once."

Sanada did not think he liked the sound of that. He was about to tell his partner to hurry up because he really did not care when he noticed that she was not smiling.

"Yeah," she said slowly. "That kind of tennis is truly despicable."

* * *

Several hours later, Ryoma was still serving to Sakuno.

It was late afternoon. Momo and Tomoka had left them to their practice long ago after noticing how the two of them refused to try anything different. In all that time, Sakuno never managed to return a single one of Ryoma's serves. They were at an impasse but still Ryoma was determined not to go easy on her.

Sakuno's dilemma was the same as before. She could read the direction of the serves impeccably now; she knew straight where they were headed almost before Ryoma hit them. Her feet simply weren't fast enough to take her to the ball. They were starting to feel heavy now, like a ton of lead was strapped around her calf muscles. She noticed Ryoma kept rubbing his shoulders and wiping sweat from his brow between serves. The practice was taking its toll on him as much as it was on her.

Ryoma wasn't perfect, she realised. He had struggled with all of this before her. Sakuno could only imagine the frustration that must have taken hold of him. Knowing how to win yet being physically unable to do so left her weary and bedraggled, hardened and, eventually, numbed. In the end, she stopped thinking about reading the serving patterns. Her legs began to move on their own accord.

As Ryoma hit the ball, Sakuno reacted instantly. This time – and, looking back, she was not sure how – she was able to touch the ball with the frame of her racquet. The ball skidded off into the net where it petered off, leaving the sound of an empty, hollow thud in its wake. Then, silence.

Sakuno looked up at Ryoma. He took another ball. In that instant, they both knew it was not enough. She would need to get it over properly.

(Her legs ached for relief. When she settled, they seemed to wobble and moan in pain, keenly yet without any voice.)

It took another five tries before she managed to touch the ball again. By this stage, both of them were panting. Neither of them said a word.

(Her legs. _Ah_. Pain.)

And it took another five tries before Ryoma's ball hit Sakuno's strings.

It felt almost as if, for that split second, the strings groaned under the weight of the ball. Sakuno could feel the shock reverberating through her body, stopping only at her mouth were she firmly clamped her teeth together. This was the true power of a Nationals level player that she was feeling against her strings. It managed to pierce through the dullness in her mind as she let go.

As soon as the ball – and with it that delicious thrill and awareness of power – came to her, she hit it away. Her body was tingling; her ears were ringing in delirium. Her arms and legs were shaking. She comprehended nothing except the racquet clenched in her trembling hands.

The ball went over and landed in with a deafening, heart-stopping thud.

Neither of them spoke for a full minute afterwards. They were struggling to grasp the enormity of what had just happened. For one brief second in time, Ryuzaki Sakuno had followed in Echizen Ryoma's footsteps and discovered his world. She lived in it. It wasn't so far away any more. Even so, already she could feel that world spinning and hurtling beyond her reach so that it only scraped against the tip of her outstretched racquet.

"Not bad," Ryoma said quietly.

He meant it.

Sakuno smiled, and just like that, the spell faded. Ryoma closed his eyes and fell against her involuntarily, unconscious from deep exhaustion.

"R-Ryoma-kun!"

A part of her thought that it was a little ironic that he fell first. In another second, it would have been her. Ryoma had used the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi _to copy Sanada's moves – it was the single longest time he had ever used the ability. The strain on his body was enormous. This whole time he had suffered under the sheer weight of his own power.

It was then that Sakuno knew that she had been wrong about Ryoma. He would always push himself much, much harder than he would ever push anyone else. To tell him to stop playing tennis that way would be to tell him to stop breathing.

She felt a tingle roll down her spine as he breathed against her skin. She could smell the sweat coming from him, strangely sweet. He was so close. She felt light-headed.

She barely knew what she did next.

Slowly, hesitantly, she put her arms around the unconscious Ryoma and held him against her. Then, she simply breathed. Some distant voiced in her head told her that this was very embarrassing – (what if people saw what she was doing?) – but she was too tired to contemplate it. Only by keeping Ryoma steady was she able to stand aground herself.

She didn't know how long they stood there like that, leaning against each other. Eventually, Ryoma's eyes flickered open slowly. He was fighting to stave off his exhaustion.

"Ryu…zaki."

Sakuno exhaled.

"Ryuzaki," Ryoma said again, a little thickly. "Get off me."

A beat.

Then-

"Eek!" She jumped back. She just knew she had to be blushing. "S-Sorry, Ryoma-kun! I don't know what came over me, I just-!"

She was interrupted by the sound of a tennis racquet scraping against the concrete. Ryoma picked up his racquet and waved it experimentally. He was, very deliberately, not looking in Sakuno's direction.

"I'll need a new racquet for tomorrow," he said. "I wore out the strings on this one."

"Ryoma-kun?"

"See you tomorrow, Ryuzaki."

A lump formed in her throat. "Y-Yeah," she whispered. He started to walk. Watching his back, her chest tightened. "Ryoma-kun!"

"What is it?"

Her voice croaked. "Do you hate me…? For what I did… just now…?"

"No."

She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Thank you, Ryoma-kun."

"I just wanted to see how long I could use the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi _for."

And with that, he was off, leaving her in the dust, just like he always did. Yet strangely enough, it no longer felt as simple as that.

* * *

Ryoma did not say a word when he got home. He had a bath and ate his dinner quietly. It was only later when he was alone in the privacy of his room that he finally said something. His fingers brushed against his cheeks and he peered at them in the dark, half in disbelief. His cheeks were still so very, very warm.

"She didn't have to get so touchy-feely." He rolled over in is bed and closed his eyes. "Tch."

Maybe later, he would understand what it all meant, but not then. He was just so, so tired.

* * *

**Next chapter: **This chapter marked _the _major turning point in Ryoma and Sakuno's relationship. Next chapter, how will their uncertain feelings fare against the return of the Couple Cleaver? (It's been a while since their last appearance. If you don't remember them, they were introduced in chapters 8-10.) Also, look forward to guest appearances from the Kidomiya twins.

(I… can't believe I wrote that last scene there. I'm not a crazy RyoSaku shipper but _damn_. I was up at 3am writing that and I just got really into it… Review? :D)


	18. No Ad

**Author's note: **This chapter is dedicated to wittymonkey, who was the 100th person to alert this story, and xxTemarixx, who got the 200th review. Thanks to everyone else who has reviewed or alerted this fic. Your support has kept me going.

**Chapter 18 – No Ad**

Ryuzaki Sumire had long known that Ryoma was a tennis-crazed idiot and that he had no common sense. It just disappointed her that stupidity appeared to be contagious.

"I told you both to _rest_," she said exasperatedly when she turned up at her granddaughter's house and discovered that Sakuno resembled a zombie dressed in a tennis skirt. "Now I suppose you're too tired to play properly in your match today."

"I'm sorry," Sakuno said sheepishly while stifling a yawn. "I'll still be able to play, grandma. I really want to."

In spite of herself, Ryuzaki-sensei smiled.

"Well, never mind," she said. "Just do your best today."

* * *

That day, the stadium was jam-packed with spectators, all teeming around the entrance in groups. It was even busier than it was the day it was before and it was virtually impossible to find a seat. Watching all of this, the Seigaku regulars (plus the freshmen) groaned in unison. The only exceptions were Kaidoh, who hissed, and Tezuka, who initiated his Stoic Face™.

"We totally deserve a seat!" Momo huffed. "We're practically VIPs!"

"Oh, boo," said Eiji. "O'chibi won't see us. I even brought a cheerleader outfit and everything!"

"What the-? You brought a _cheerleader outfit_?" Oishi asked incredulously.

"Yep! I got one for you too, Oishi, wanna see, nya?"

Before Oishi could respond to that new development, Tomoka gasped and exclaimed, "Hey, aren't they the twins who Ryoma-sama and Sakuno played against the other day?"

She was right. The Kidomiya twins were looking around aimlessly at the entrance, scratching their heads as if they were lost. Today, they were dressed in casual gear, though to no one's surprise, the bright colours of their shirts matched. If Akira didn't have such long hair, it would have been rather difficult to tell them apart.

"Hey, do you need help there?" Oishi asked politely, grateful that the subject had been changed. He couldn't help but notice how the crowd jostled quite rudely past the twelve-year-olds as if they didn't even exist to them.

"Well, um, yeah," said Akira shyly. "To be honest, it's our first time being spectators like this."

"Thanks a bunch, dudes!" said Akio cheerfully.

The Seigaku regulars exchanged odd glances. _Dudes?_

Finally, Oishi cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, uh, come with us. You're here to watch Echizen and Ryuzaki, right?"

"Yep," said Akio brightly. "Echizen plays really awesome tennis. Actually, he's the one who sort of made our dad realise not all middle schoolers are amateurs."

"So what school do you go to?" Kawamura asked as they made their way past the ticket barrier. He personally couldn't imagine anyone thinking middle school tennis was amateur in this current space-time continuity.

Akio and Akira exchanged bemused glances.

"Ginka," they said.

The Seigaku regulars blinked.

Then-

"Pfffffffft!"

"Something wrong?" Akira asked.

"That kind of explains your dad's attitude, to be honest," said Eiji.

"Next year, our father's going to let us join the tennis club," Akira went on. She smiled; the thought evidently made her pleased.

Inui scribbled down some notes in his notebook. After a moment of this, his glasses flashed with fresh insight.

"Ginka's probability of winning the Kantou regionals next year just rose by thirty per cent," he announced to the dumbstruck regulars.

"Oh, crap!"

The Kidomiya twins, who had no idea what the Seigaku regulars looked so flabbergasted about, were more distracted by other things.

"Look over there!" Akio said suddenly. "It's Echizen and Ryuzaki!"

Everyone's favourite mixed doubles pair was making their way to the players' lobby. It would probably have been a great cause for excitement for everyone watching if it wasn't for how_ tired _they both looked. They looked ready to fall over any minute.

"Just what were they up _doing _yesterday?" Horio asked.

After Momo explained what happened, Oishi flashed him a look of disapproval. "Why didn't you try to stop them?"

"I didn't think they'd take it _that _far," Momo insisted. "Geez."

"Fsssshh, they were stupid to push themselves too hard," said Kaidoh.

"Like you can talk," Momo retorted with a snort.

"_Whatchu say_?"

"Argh, just break it up, you too," Oishi said distractedly. By this time, Ryoma and Sakuno had already disappeared around the corner, though he continued to stare at the spot they had been standing in with some anxiety. "I hope those two can play well together today. They looked like they were avoiding each other's eyes."

"That certainly doesn't sound good," Fuji remarked as, contemplatively, he scratched his chin with his forefinger. "Perhaps something happened between them?"

"Whatever it is, they better get over it soon," Eiji said. He had turned serious. "They're up against the Couple Cleaver, aren't they? I remember playing against them last year when they were still in middle school. They're nasty."

He and Oishi glanced at each other; the recollections were haunting. Last year, Aso Kenichi and Obata Nodoka were Yamabuki students and that was the same year Yamabuki had crushed Seigaku in doubles. The Jimmies had defeated Oishi in Doubles One, but Eiji had also played that year with a senpai in the Doubles Two slot. He had come up against Aso Kenichi and was utterly crushed. After that match, Eiji impetuously challenged Kenichi in a street tennis match and that was the first time he played against the Couple Cleaver. It was also the last time.

He could still remember the words his partner uttered to him as they stepped off the court together and how they had shattered his spirit.

"_I'm sorry, Kikumaru. Maybe we're just not compatible…"_

No matter how many different opponents they played against after that, their combination was just never the same. Eiji started playing with Oishi regularly after that, and so after a while he forgot about the disturbing powers of the Couple Cleaver. Yet seeing their names on the draw was enough to bring back the unsettling memories.

"I hope o'chibi takes revenge for us," Eiji said slowly. "Because breaking up with someone feels so lonely."

Oishi's expression softened. "Eiji…"

Eiji turned to him, punched him in the arm and grinned. "It's not like that dirty couple would have any chance against us, Oishi."

Oishi smiled.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your touching bromance moment," Akira said randomly, "but have you seen my brother anywhere?"

"I saw him go around that corner," Fuji said, pointing. "I think he was chasing after Echizen and Ryuzaki."

"He's not even allowed in the players' lobby anymore. He's so impulsive," Akira said with a small sigh. "That's Akio for you."

"Why does he want to talk to Echizen?" Kawamura asked curiously.

Akira blushed. When her more outgoing brother was not around, she became very shy and introverted.

"It's because we've played against the Couple Cleaver once too," she explained slowly, looking down at her feet and fidgeting as she spoke. "And, well, we beat them."

* * *

"Hey, Ryuzaki!"

Upon hearing her name, Sakuno turned around in surprise. She had been busy tying up her shoelaces. As she turned her head around, her small white fingers clenched around her tennis racquet involuntarily.

Kidomiya Akio stood behind her, bending over and gripping his knees, panting. In a moment, he looked up at her and grinned boyishly. All his teeth showed and his eyes lit up.

"Where's Echizen?" he asked, looking around the lobby in curiosity. There was no one else in the room.

"He's already gone ahead," Sakuno said sheepishly.

Akio did not say anything to that for a moment. He peered at Sakuno's flushed face and observed how her hands shook as she held her racquet. He frowned.

"Is he avoiding you?" he asked bluntly.

"What? I-I-! No, not at all, he's just-!"

Akio interrupted by placing his hands on Sakuno's shoulders and staring straight into her eyes.

"Listen, Ryuzaki. I'm here, so you can talk to me, okay?"

"I really am fine, Kidomiya-kun!" Sakuno squeaked. She was red as a tomato now.

"Hmmm," said Akio, letting go of her thoughtfully. "Well, okay, if you say so, haha."

"You're easily pleased, aren't you, Kidomiya-kun?" Sakuno said with a small yet tired smile.

Akio smiled back at her easily, though he still seemed thoughtful. "Yeah, but listen, you're playing the Couple Cleaver. If you don't trust Echizen, they'll ruin you. Me and Akira beat them but that's because we're _siblings _and we've only had each other since we were little and-"

"I know," Sakuno said quietly. "We've played them before."

"Oh," said Akio, blinking a few times. "Right. Okay. Well, um, then, uh… Don't let your guard down!"

(Sakuno dimly thought that it was kind of funny to see a grinning twelve-year-old boy spout Tezuka's infamous line.)

"Wait," Akio said suddenly. It seemed as if he had just remembered something. "You know about the Couple Cleaver's martial arts tennis, right? That move of theirs where they-?"

He was cut off when the door of the lobby slid open and an official dressed in a white uniform strode imperiously into the room.

"Only surviving competitors are allowed in here," the official said sternly. "Please go to the stands."

Akio was unable to say anything more as the official ushered him out the door. As the door closed behind him, Akio sighed. He hadn't liked the tiredness in Sakuno's eyes. He hadn't liked how Ryoma wasn't supporting her today either. It was the first time he had ever cared so deeply about a former opponent of his.

"Are they really gonna be all right?" he wondered aloud.

* * *

Out on the court, Aso Kenichi and Obata Nodoka readied themselves for the match. Casually, they exchanged water bottles and towels while they stood and watched Ryoma from across the net. The boy had his head down and was bouncing a tennis ball against his hand rather unconcernedly. At least, that was what it seemed to the casual observer. Looking closer, the vestiges of fatigue in his stance were unmistakable. When Sakuno emerged onto the court to join him, he barely even looked at her.

The last time they had played each other, everything was different. Kenichi and Nodoka turned to each other, smiled and nodded. They saw what they needed to find and they knew what they had to do.

* * *

The match was just about to start. Seated in the stands towards the back of the stadium, the Seigaku regulars watched as the four players shook hands at the net.

"Looks like those two high schoolers are saying something to Ryoma-kun and Ryuzaki," Katsuo pointed out. "I can't hear what it is, though."

Whatever it was must not have been a good thing. Sakuno swung her head to Ryoma's side, staring at him with blank confusion. Ryoma tipped his hat. That seemed to be all the answer Sakuno required because she said nothing, and after that, they got into position to start the first point.

It didn't start well, right from the beginning. Sakuno struggled to return Kenichi's serve and Nodoka, who was standing at the net in wait, put the ball away for a winner. The Couple Cleaver carried the momentum all the way through the first game, not even losing one point.

"This is bad," Oishi commented. "They're not letting Echizen and Ryuzaki find their rhythm."

"Notice how they didn't let them warm up?" Eiji said darkly. "It's part of their strategy."

It was clear to everyone watching that Ryoma and Sakuno were not playing the way they had against the Kidomiya twins. While partly, that could have been because of their current opponents, it mostly had to do with how sluggish they were both moving and how little they talked to each other. No matter who they faced, they would have had this problem. The Couple Cleaver only made it worse for them.

"There's something else," Fuji said seriously. The regulars looked at him with curiosity. Fuji shook his head and explained. "Last time, Echizen and Ryuzaki were able to play so well because Echizen stopped being conscious of her on the court. He was able to play doubles with the same ease as his singles game and Ryuzaki was able to back him up that way. But now I can tell… he's conscious of her."

"What do you mean he's _conscious _of her?" Kawamura asked. "I thought he was ignoring her."

No matter what angle one looked down at the court from, it really did seem like Ryoma was his usual apathetic self. He wasn't starting up any long, rambling conversations with his partner, but it wasn't like that was in his personality. Even when they played well together, it wasn't like they spoke to each other all that much.

But Fuji knew what he saw. Fuji wasn't a genius simply because of his play – he was a genius because of those little things that he noticed, and it was the little things that added up to genius.

"He's definitely more conscious of her," he said, "and it's distracting him somehow."

"This is bad, right?" said Momo, who was thinking this was his fault. If only he hadn't let Ryoma and Sakuno push themselves so far…

"No," said Fuji. "I think this was a wall they both needed to hit."

* * *

The score shot ahead to 4-2 in the Couple Cleaver's favour. It was Nodoka's serve. As she bounced the ball, her eyes latched onto Sakuno's. She smiled in satisfaction when Sakuno gulped involuntarily in response. Everything was going just as planned.

It was clear that Sakuno had not told Ryoma about their last match together. Take the beginning of that match, for instance. Before Sakuno had come onto the court, Kenichi and Nodoka thought of provoking Ryoma. They wanted to get a start on their psychological tactics early.

"Hey, kid," Kenichi had called out, cupping his hands over his mouth.

Ryoma looked up, his expression neutral.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Argh, he pisses me off so much!" Kenichi grumbled.

"Shhh!" Nodoka hissed in his ear. "Remember I wiped his memories!" Then she said to Ryoma, "I heard you're pretty good at tennis."

"Well, I've never heard of you."

"Yep," Nodoka whispered to Kenichi. "He pisses me off too."

Anyone would have shown a flicker of recognition when faced with someone who had, well, _kissed _them before. Or maybe Ryoma was just that obtuse. Nodoka wouldn't put it past him.

In any case, she was very pleased now that she and Kenichi were ahead in the match. Sakuno had definitely improved since their last match but she wasn't as focused now. When she hit a bad shot, her next shot was likely to be bad too. Tennis was, after all, a mental game just as much as it was a physical game. Nodoka and Kenichi focused their shots towards the gaps between Ryoma and Sakuno, forcing the two of them to become keenly aware of each other. They forced the mental game into play.

"At this rate," she whispered to Kenichi, "it looks like we won't have to use our martial arts tennis to win this like we thought we would."

"Don't slip up," he warned her. "You know how you're a dumb broad, Nodoka? Try not to be one."

She slapped him. Then she turned to Ryoma and Sakuno. "Here I go!" she called out as she hit the ball towards them. "Kenichi, take the net!" she roared.

"On it!" he responded. He ran up to the net and came face-to-face with Ryoma. "So, looks like you're not as good at tennis as we thought," he said to the boy across the net.

"Tch," answered Ryoma, his face expressionless. "Ryuzaki, behind me!"

He said this just as Nodoka lobbed the ball right over his head. He ran to the side as Sakuno swung to the ball and hit it as hard as she could.

"Not bad," Kenichi heard Nodoka say behind him. "Looks like him being so aware of her has its advantages after all."

"The pigtailed girl won't be able to defeat me!" Kenichi cried as he volleyed the ball back over the net. Sakuno had not hit the ball hard enough to get it past him.

He hit it hard, but Ryoma was able to get it back. The shorter boy hit the ball right on the corner of the doubles court.

"Heh," said Ryoma with a smirk. "At least doubles is good for something."

"Oh, no you don't!" Nodoka screeched. Out of nowhere, she seemed to appear and she lunged for the ball. Just in time, she managed to reach it and sent it hurtling down the line.

It was a seemingly miraculous winner.

Ryoma's eyes opened slightly wider in shock. As for Sakuno, she bent over and gripped her shaking knees tightly, letting the sweat pour off her forehead. It was too much for her to reach.

* * *

"Darn it!" Momo exclaimed. "Echizen and Ryuzaki played a good point there!"

"The doubles court opens up new possible angles for every shot," Inui explained. "Obata's shot was difficult from that position but not impossible."

"Am I the only one who gets the feeling that point was the key to the entire match?" Kawamura asked quietly.

Eiji turned to him, surprised. "Huh? What do you mean, Taka-san?"

"Well," said Kawamura, scratching his chin contemplatively. "When you play a rally really well and you think you hit a winner but suddenly your opponent turns the tables on you, I think that kind of defeat weighs down more on you than a regular loss."

"Psychologically, Echizen and Ryuzaki are in a really bad position," said Oishi, frowning. "Now they're 5-2 down. If Aso and Obata break Ryuzaki's serve here, it's all over."

The regulars glanced at each other worriedly. _Already? _The match had felt so short. Was this really all there was to it?

As a hush descended upon the audience, Tomoka watched Sakuno as she served. "I think she's at her limit," Tomoka whispered. "She's shaking."

They were all silent, watching the next few rallies play out. Neither Ryoma nor Sakuno had lost their spirit and they managed to win a few points together, levelling the score. Yes, maybe their form wasn't so good today and they both seemed distracted, but no one could say they were not determined.

"Oh, good," Momo said in relief after a few minutes of tense waiting. "They got it to deuce."

The boys smiled in relief.

The moment, however, was short-lived.

"No," said Kidomiya Akira. "It's match point against them."

"What?" said Momo loudly. "No way! When it's deuce, you have to have a two point advantage to win."

"Not in mixed doubles," Akio said grimly. "Sis is right."

"Yeah," said Oishi. "In mixed doubles, they use a No-Ad scoring system. There's no such thing as deuce. It's a sudden death point and whoever wins it takes the game."

"So that's why the mixed doubles matches feel shorter than normal matches!" Kachiro exclaimed. "It's because of the No-Ad scoring system!"

"That's right," Tezuka responded gravely. "We can only watch and wait."

* * *

Sakuno stood at the service line, well aware that this could very well be the last point in the match. Her fingers trembled and her face felt pale and sweaty. She tried not to think about how this was match point – she figured that sort of thing would be bad for her. And yet, in the corner of her mind, she could not help but dwell on it.

That along with the thought of what Nodoka and Kenichi had said to her at the start of the match. They had spoken the last words Sakuno had expected to hear. She gulped and tried to shove the words away into the back corner of her mind, but they simply remained there, prodding away at her relentlessly.

"_You know, Nomu-san told us. Echizen's going back to America straight after this tournament ends. Oh, but you knew that already, didn't you? You're his partner, after all. You guys trust each other so much, right?"_

* * *

**Next chapter: **Kenichi and Nodoka are such bastards. You just know Ryoma will find a way to hand their asses to them. If that seems like a surprise twist to you, did you even _watch _Prince of Tennis? lul. The fun will come from seeing how he and Sakuno do it. Sakuno actually loses her temper for once.

(By the way, I ship Akio/Sakuno. Like. Ridiculously. But alas, it will never happen because I'm not so cheap as to turn Akio into an arbitrary love interest.)

* * *

**Omake:**

"So that's why the mixed doubles matches feel shorter than normal matches!" Kachiro exclaimed. "It's because of the No-Ad scoring system!"

"No," Tezuka responded gravely. "It is because the author is lazy."


	19. Chemical attraction at a subatomic level

**Author's note: **I really don't want to write about emotions. I really want to write about quantum physics.

**Chapter 19 – Chemical attraction at a subatomic level**

Ryoma just couldn't understand it.

That morning, ever since he had woken up, he couldn't help but have a niggling feeling about a thought he couldn't quite place. It was not a feeling that he was used to and like everything he was not used to, he found himself irritated by it. He ended up eating his breakfast with a sort of measured indifference, frowning into his cereal as he did so. It was only when he caught sight of Ryuzaki-sensei at the door and noticed Sakuno standing shyly behind her that he remembered-

"Going on a date, kid?" Nanjiroh asked, not even looking up from his newspaper which was really a girly magazine covered by newspaper.

Ryoma thought that was a question too stupid to warrant an answer for so he just stood up and said, "Thanks for the meal."

"I notice you've been seeing a lot of the hag's granddaughter lately," Nanjiroh remarked. "Well, she's cute so I don't blame you. You reached first base yet?"

"We're playing tennis, not baseball."

Far from being mollified by Ryoma's response, Nanjiroh just seemed to find it hilarious.

"You really are an idiot, my son! Bahahaha, which buffoon gave birth to you?"

"That would be you, you moron."

"Rest assured I am far more intelligent in these matters than you are, kid. Bah, you crack me up."

Ryoma, who had no idea what kind of matters his father was even talking about, wisely kept silent. He got up, put on his tennis jacket, and went out to meet Ryuzaki-sensei. She seemed spectacularly unimpressed, by him, by Sakuno and by the universe itself.

"What were you _doing _with Sakuno yesterday?" she demanded exasperatedly.

This was really the last question Ryoma wanted to answer. Behind him, he could almost _hear _his father prick up his ears expectantly, as if he were a dog who had just caught the scent of a hapless rabbit nearby. He was chuckling to himself as he turned the page of his newspaper-sans-girly-magazine. As for Sakuno, she was extremely red-faced – out of tiredness, Ryoma suspected, probably because of all that-

He stopped mid-thought. He really didn't want to think about it.

"We were practicing," he said curtly, as if that explained everything.

"Of course you were practicing, you fool. The problem is that you have no sense of limit when it comes to other people."

As Ryoma listened to Ryuzaki-sensei rant on, he thought: _It's not my fault_. Of course. It was _Sakuno _who had no sense of limit, who did _strange _things…

"Whatever," said Ryoma with a nonchalant shrug. He was careful to tilt his head at such an angle that he would not have to look at Sakuno.

(Okay, so maybe it wasn't her fault. Or maybe, to put it more accurately, it was her fault for making him think it was her fault, which, as it turned out, actually made it _his _fault.)

(Wait, what?)

Some of his confusion must have translated to his face somehow because Ryuzaki-sensei only looked at him strangely.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked finally. "You look a little red in the face."

"It's just a little case of the love bug," Nanjiroh said behind him.

The _what _bug?

"Maybe, you know," Nanjiroh went on cheerfully, "they did more than just _practising-_"

Without even looking at him, Ryoma whacked his father's mouth with the strings of his racquet.

"Shut up," he said.

"Ow, my teef," said Nanjiroh.

"Well, I'm off," was Ryoma's sympathetic reply.

As he made his way across the front yard, trying to look as cool and calm and collected as ever, Sakuno said, "Um, Ryoma-kun…?"

He ignored her. He was good at ignoring people. Ignoring people was what he did.

"… The car's in the opposite direction."

Without missing a stride, Ryoma did a u-turn on the spot, as if that was his plan all along.

* * *

As soon as Sakuno got on the court with him, he knew something was wrong. It had nothing to do with her – she was playing slightly worse than usual but that was because she was tired. He could handle that. The problem, he was startled to find, had more to do with himself.

He could _feel _her presence on the court. Even when she was standing behind him, he could sense when she was moved. Frankly, it was all very annoying, like there was a flip in his mind that he could not turn off. It wasn't even as if he disliked Sakuno at all – if he had to choose between liking her or disliking then he would choose liking her, though he had never had much of a strong opinion of her either way.

Was it because she had touched him? He didn't like people doing that to him even under the best of circumstances, so maybe that was it. But that had never stopped. Eiji and Momo, who he definitely did not hate, and it wasn't like Sakuno kept trying to touch him In fact, today, she kept her hands very much to herself, not even high-fiving him between points.

Clearly, Ryoma decided, she had made a tactical error in touching him. And she had learned from it. Good for her.

By the time he came to this happy realization, it was already 5-2 against them.

When did the score get so dire?

Wait… _match point?_

From where he was standing close to the net, he turned his head around and gazed blankly at Sakuno, who was readying her serve, unable to shake the nervous expression off her face. Ryoma considered this for a moment. It had never occurred to him that she might have some trouble concentrating too. He held up a hand behind his back and held up his two fingers, a simple signal. Banji had taught it to them all those weeks ago. It meant: _approach the net after you hit that serve_.

Then Ryoma turned back to face his opponents, hands curled around the grip of his racquet in ready position. He did not want to be distracted. Mercifully, for that brief minute, as soon as Sakuno hit the serve, his mind went blank and his body took over.

He could hear Sakuno running up to the net, just as he signalled her to. "This is it!" Nodoka screeched gleefully, as she ran to the net too.

Now all four of them were there, their eyes fixed on the ball as it moved through the air.

Sakuno reached the ball as Nodoka hit it over to the far right. She stretched with all of her might, just managing to get it back over the net.

_She should have let that bounce_, Ryoma thought grimly. Her shot was weak. Ryoma sprang lightly to his feet as he noticed Kenichi bring his racquet down heavily on the ball.

"I'm sorry, Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno squeaked frantically, shaking as she struggled to recover from that last shot. She had no chance of reaching the ball.

Ryoma looked at her; for just a brief moment, her wide, imploring eyes met his. He frowned. In that instant, he recalled something she had said to him a while ago, something that he distinctly remembered _had _annoyed him.

_"... It's like you've got this shell around you..."_

Now he remembered. It annoyed him because she was the one who said it.

As Kenichi hit the ball, Ryoma dashed towards Sakuno, covering the space she left between them neatly. He knew what strategy his opponents had been trying to use on them – they had been trying to break them up psychologically. Ryoma was not an idiot when it came to tennis, after all.

This was why he knew now, when it was match point, the only thing that mattered was staying close to Sakuno. Honestly, if he hadn't been so distracted, he would have acted on that notion ages ago.

Kenichi's shot sped towards the space between them, just as Ryoma predicted. And now that he knew what to do, the solution was simple. He got to hit and the Cool Drive from it, a perfect winner.

"Game to Echizen and Ryuzaki pair 5-3!" he heard the chair umpire announce. "Aso to serve!"

Ryoma smirked to himself, perfectly satisfied with his lot in life – until he noticed Sakuno was peering at him, at which point, he turned his head away and shuffled off with his hands in his pockets. "Thank you, Ryoma-kun," Sakuno said sweetly.

Her words had a startling effect on him, as if they demanded his sole attention. "Hn," he grunted, and then paused, knowing that was hardly a satisfactory response. "We're doubles partners," he added. That sounded about right.

He took that moment to glance sideways at Sakuno. "Yeah," she said, a little thoughtfully. Ryoma had no idea what she was thinking.

It was then he noticed her smile. It spread across her face slowly, nudging its way gently to the surface. It was like watching a flower open itself up in bloom. Her eyes lit up and her mouth opened wide and, for the first time, Ryoma noticed that she had dimples.

"Hn," he said again, blandly, and that was all the reaction he could think of.

* * *

"We'll get them this time," Kenichi assured Nodoka winningly.

"We better," Nodoka said sourly. She was not nearly as self-confident as Kenichi was. In fact, she was downright murderous. "Don't stuff up again, Kenichi."

"Sure, sure," said Kenichi. "Whatever."

* * *

"Ryoma-kun, I don't like those two high schoolers," Sakuno said, in part of what was perhaps their first proper conversation since yesterday.

Her words gave Ryoma a moment of pause. He had never heard Sakuno express explicit dislike of someone or something. She spoke quietly, but he could tell she meant what she said. At first, he simply accepted what she said with a slight inclination of his head, but she was looking at him expectantly. She was expecting him to reply.

"Yeah," he answered with a shrug. "They're trying to stir us up. They're annoying."

"So… when they say those cruel things…"

Ryoma looked at her. He could tell she was worried.

"They're annoying to listen to," he said. "I'll beat them."

"Even if we beat them, do you think they'll change?"

"Who knows." Ryoma did not really care.

"Hmmm," responded Sakuno, and she tilted her head down, her mouth forming a grim line.

To that, Ryoma said nothing. He was trying to concentrate too.

* * *

The next couple of points were short and to-the-point, as doubles rallies usually are. As Ryoma's concentration improved, his shots became more precise, quickly overpowering the high schoolers. Even though he and Sakuno were still struggling with their fatigue, he managed to hide it better and he quickly started to assume his usual tennis, directing the plays towards himself. He was experienced enough to know that even a tired player could be formidable, as long as he hit the ball in the right spot and with the right timing. In that case, it all came down to the mental state – as long as he didn't _think _he was tired and let that affect his concentration. And no one was more self-assured and confident in his abilities than Echizen Ryoma.

"We're really winning!" Sakuno declared in surprise as Ryoma hit a winning drive down the middle of the court.

Technically, they weren't really winning. After that last point, they were still a game behind, though it was a definite improvement from 5-2 down. "Mada mada da ne," Ryoma said across the net to his opponents, just because he wanted to be an ass and it had been a while since he had last uttered his catchphrase. The high schoolers did not look exactly pleased.

Which was all the better, in Ryoma's opinion.

"Hmph," he heard Nodoka snort indignantly. "Looks like we'll really have to go ahead and do it."

Beside him, Ryoma perceived Sakuno stiffen. He was about to wonder what that was about when he heard the umpire telling them to change ends. Whatever the two high schoolers had up their sleeve, he decided, he would be able to handle it. With this mindset firmly in hand, he strode past Nodoka with his head held high.

For that brief moment, as they passed each other at the net post, he could see all the frustration pouring out onto Nodoka's face. Her eyes turned to follow him, not just with anger but also calculatedly. It was almost like she was still trying to appraise him at the same time she wanted to hit him. Ryoma had been on the receiving end of defiant glances all his life, but this was a first, and it almost gave him reason for pause. Instead, he smirked.

The flickers of hostility in their exchange really should have ended there. The spell should have lifted, the sparks should have dimmed, and they should have continued on to where they needed to go while thinking their private thoughts.

It was only his sharp eyes that alerted him that something was up. Nodoka's hands moved almost too quickly for the eyes to notice. Ryoma flinched backwards, alarmed at her sudden motion towards him – but she only tapped him delicately on the side of his head. Just like that, all of her anger towards dissipated. He could tell because she started to smile as if she was satisfied. It was a cold, all too clinical smile and it only lasted for a brief second before it was swept away by a carefully neutral expression.

Ryoma frowned and stared intently after her but she simply kept on walking and pretended not to notice him at all. In fact, it seemed like the umpire had not seen anything either. A quick glance confirmed that notion. It was almost like Ryoma had simply imagined the girl's finger tapping against his head. But that couldn't be right.

_This _was why he didn't like people touching him, he thought, scowling. But maybe it just didn't matter. Maybe.

Yet as soon as Ryoma made his way to his side of the court, he knew something was wrong. His head was throbbing violently. He almost needed to sit down - the bench, however, was still several metres away.

He tried not to wince as he walked. He succeeded in that, but his walking pace was slower than usual. Inui would probably have noticed. So would Fuji or Tezuka and any number of highly observant tennis players.

"Ryoma-kun, are you okay?" Sakuno asked concernedly, coming over to him.

Of course, Ryoma thought dully. She really was good at observation, wasn't she? Well, it depended on what she was observing...

His train of thought screeched to a halt as the throbbing intensified. At this point, he really couldn't hide it anymore. Sakuno gasped and came a little closer and Ryoma waved his hand at her dismissively. Through the waves of pain splitting his head, he found it within himself to feel, well, _irritated _by her care for him. It just wasn't good for his pride. "I'm fine," he said crossly, at the same time clasping his right eye with his free palm. His vision was starting to blur and spin around in motion, like he was in seated in a fast-moving car and had let go of the wheel.

"Is the player in a condition to continue?" he heard the umpire ask behind him in a bored, unemotional tone. "Or would he like to retire?"

"What does that mean?" Sakuno asked confusedly.

"It means to _give up_," Ryoma said, more curtly than he intended. His eyes were starting to feel like they were on fire. He rubbed at them, though he could still see Sakuno's face crease in worry in the corner of his vision. She looked like she was about to try and hold him steady, just like yesterday.

The flashbacks were vivid; just thinking about it alarmed him. It felt like his heart went straight to his mouth.

Brusquely, he straightened up and watched her jerk back involuntarily, her mouth forming an 'o' in surprise. He had fuzzy memories of her trying to stop him from finishing a match once just because he got injured. He didn't want to retire from a match and he didn't want her to touch him. It was as simple as that.

All the same, he could not help but notice how she looked at him. It wasn't like he wanted to brush her off completely.

"We'll have five minutes," he heard himself say to the umpire. Five minutes was the amount of time players could spend off the court in the event of an injury. After that, they had to decide to keep playing or retire. There could be no more deliberation.

Sakuno followed him and hovered around him as he propped himself down on the bench with a towel and a water bottle in hand. His vision was getting steadily blurrier, though that didn't bother him. He had played (and won) with both eyes shut before. What he was really worried about was whether he could convince Sakuno to keep playing. This wasn't like that one time against Shinji. Play in doubles could only continue if both players consented to it.

Would this be where their interests parted?

"They're the ones who did this to you, right?" Sakuno said quietly, inclining her head towards their opponents, who were casually exchanging a drink with each other. The Couple Cleaver ignored Ryoma and Sakuno entirely. It was like they were lost in their own little world.

"Hm," said Ryoma, which was his way of admitting the truth. He knew his condition had something to do with the way Nodoka had touched him earlier. She had probably touched a pressure point, or something like that. In any case, if they were going to play dirty, he was still going to beat them. It wasn't like he was going to back down over something so petty.

"I knew it," said Sakuno. He couldn't see the details of her face now, but he could tell she was frowning. In his mind's eye, it came across as a pout.

"Let's keep playing," Ryoma told her simply.

"Can't we tell the umpire the umpire they cheated?"

Ryoma considered the idea but shook his head. "He wouldn't believe us. He'll think we're faking it."

Besides, he wanted to beat the Couple Cleaver at their own game. He could do it. Why couldn't dimwitted Ryuzaki see that?

She was quiet, painfully so. She was thinking hard. When finally she spoke, he could tell she chose her words carefully.

"They're doing everything they can to make us disagree." Her voice was low and miserable though it was starting to increase in volume. The blur of her outline started to shake. "They're the worst. They even hurt you! Ryoma-kun, they hurt you!"

He blinked, the red rims of his eyes watery. For one brief millisecond, his vision was clear. What he saw was enough to unnerve him utterly. Eyebrows creased, mouth open wide and scowling, cheeks flushed high red and indignant…

He backed down instantly, not knowing what to say. He had never seen such a furious Sakuno.

* * *

"Oh dear," Kenichi said to Nodoka sadly. "The pigtailed girl does not seem very happy with us."

"It's not like she should blame _us _or anything," Nodoka replied. She was peering at her fingers with a measured gaze and stretched them languidly. "People break up and have disagreements all the time or they just drift or something. That's just part of being human. If they were gonna disagree, they were gonna disagree, whether we were there or not. We're not doing anything bad; we're just catalysts. We're a force of nature."

* * *

"You're not well enough to play, Ryoma-kun! I'm going to tell the umpire what's wrong!"

She was about to do exactly that when Ryoma suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her arm, holding her to the spot.

"Stop it, Ryuzaki," he hissed.

"Let go, Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno tried to pull away and Ryoma was startled to hear her sniff. Was she that upset? He couldn't see; everything was black now. "You never try to take care of yourself…"

"I can play," he said. He stood up firmly. His feet were perfectly steady.

Actually, wait. Hold that thought. He felt a little dizzy.

Ryoma was somewhat taken aback when he felt his knees buckle beneath him. Grunting with exertion, he pulled himself upright so that he didn't fall over. There, he was still good.

He could tell Sakuno was absolutely revolted, just from how sharply she inhaled.

"Ryoma-kun…!"

"I'm not gonna quit," he said stubbornly. Then he said, "Don't touch me."

He didn't think he could handle it.

Before Sakuno could formulate a reply to that, approaching footsteps told them that the umpire was coming up close to them. Their five minutes was up.

"Are you going to continue play or resign?" the umpire asked impassively.

It was something of a marvel, how he seemed to be so oblivious of Ryoma and Sakuno's argument. He was probably just doing his job. Whatever. Ryoma didn't care.

"We're gonna keep playing," he declared stubbornly.

"Ryoma-kun! That's not right!"

There was a pause. Ryoma could tell the umpire was looking at both of them in turn, unsure of who to believe.

"Do both of you agree to keep playing?" he asked. "It's your personal choice."

He had spelled out the entire situation for Sakuno. At that, Ryoma's heart let forth one nervous erratic thump. He hated it. He didn't want to place his fate in someone else's hands. He had never experienced this feeling before - how could he, when he had only ever relied on himself?

_Ryuzaki…_

In an instant, his mind flashed back to all the occasions when she had actively supported his tennis. He had known it, tolerated it, appreciated it, even. Wasn't trusting her the point of doubles? What was the point of all of this if she just turned her back on his wishes now?

"Ryuzaki," he said quietly. He swallowed. He really didn't want to have to stoop so low, but… "Come on." She said nothing. Was it a bad sign or what? He couldn't tell.

Finally, as the silence ensued, Ryoma said, because he could think of nothing else:

"Plea-"

But before he could finish the utterance, Sakuno interrupted him.

She told the umpire her decision.

* * *

**Next chapter: **Insert spoilers here.

(**A/N: **I hope I don't need to explain the sort of relevance the science-y title had with what was going on in Ryoma's head this chapter. And yes, before you ask, I'm a dork. Oh, and one last thing. I did feel like I rushed to get this update out, so I edited it a bit, a couple of hours after I posted it. Sorry for the inconvenience. None of the plot was changed, by the way, only minor spelling issues and the pacing. This is a bad habit of mine, especially when I impose deadlines on myself, but I'll try to get over it.)


	20. A Touching Scene

**Author's note: **This chapter is dedicated to **fyerigurl**, whose birthday was a week ago and who I have not written anything for yet. Hopefully, this chapter will tide you over while I think of something really cool for you.

To anyone who is curious: I come up with my ideas for this story while doing tennis racquet exercises with my pants off.

**Chapter 20 – A Touching Scene**

"Let's continue," Sakuno said.

If there was ever a moment in her life when Ryoma experienced utter, unconditional gratitude towards another person, it was then, as he listened to Sakuno's trembling yet decisively spoken words. The moment itself was brief, like the sudden passing climax of an adrenaline rush. It took Ryoma a second to recover as his mind stumbled and hitched back into gear – and then he was quite sure about what he wanted to do.

"Good choice," he heard himself say coolly.

Sakuno let out a soft sigh.

"Ryoma-kun, don't you trust me?" she asked.

He had no idea what to say to that so he didn't say anything.

"Please don't push yourself," she said. "As soon as this is over…"

"We'll win in ten minutes," he said.

He wasn't sure of the reason, but after he said that, Sakuno started to giggle. The sound of it was oddly relieving. He wasn't sure why she was laughing but okay.

He could roll with it.

* * *

Sakuno had never intended to quit on Ryoma.

As soon as she noticed that he was injured, her first thought was that it was awful of the Couple Cleaver to have done this to him. She was in fact startled to discover how hot her anger was inside of her – a kind of slow burning yet very real fury, the kind that took the breath out of her and left her weak in the knees. A lot of it was because she was concerned about Ryoma; and yet another part of her – a large part of her – simply didn't want to lose. So_ this_ was why the boys could get so carried away in their matches, she found herself thinking.

In any case, quitting was the last thing on her mind. If she quit now, not only would Ryoma be disappointed, but her opponents would never face the error of their ways. Their chances of winning the tournament would be gone.

At the same time, she was convinced that Ryoma could not keep playing like before, not if what he really needed was rest and a doctor.

"We'll continue," she said to herself firmly, "but from now on, I'll take the shots for Ryoma-kun."

She was startled when behind her, Ryoma bopped her lightly on the head with his tennis racquet.

"Since when are you me?" he asked her.

"R-Ryoma-kun!"

"Relax," he said.

It was strange to look at him, with both of his eyes scrunched shut tightly. At the same time, his head was faced straight in her direction; it was hard to believe he really could not see.

"I can play," he went on.

Sakuno nodded.

"Did you say something?" he asked.

Oh, right. He really _couldn't _see, then. Sakuno grinned sheepishly. "I said, we can do it, Ryoma-kun!"

"Good," said Ryoma. "I know what to do."

* * *

Ryoma took his position to serve. He tossed the ball in the air and did not even look at it as he brought his racquet down upon it. He had no need to.

The freshman trio gasped and got to their feet, watching eagerly as Ryoma's signature serve hit the ground running.

"It's the Twist Serve!"

Akio gaped. "How is he able to do that blind?"

"He's using his other senses," Akira said quietly. "Am I right?"

She glanced towards Kawamura for confirmation because he was the regular who was sitting nearest to her.

"That's right," said Kawamura, smiling. "Echizen's done this before."

"But how's he able to move around the court so well when Ryuzaki's there too?" Akio pointed out.

That was a very good question. As they all watched, Ryoma hit the ball across the net with perfect accuracy. He ran to the other side of the court, perfectly anticipating a crosscourt shot. Sakuno ran to cover him and when Nodoka hit a lob over Ryoma's head, Sakuno was there to return it. Somehow, Ryoma had known exactly where Sakuno was going to be before Nodoka had even hit the ball.

Sakuno hit the ball back in – and the rally continued in deadly earnest. Neither side gave away an inch.

_Pok. Pok. Pok._

"It's a lot harder than it looks," Fuji commented seriously. His brow was furrowed in thought; he was recalling his match against Kirihara Akaya. "It's one thing to be able to play singles blind. I imagine it's twice as difficult to coordinate with your partner."

"Me and Oishi tried it once," Eiji interjected. He grinned. "We kept running into each other."

"But if we did Synchro, we were fine," Oishi added.

This made sense – Synchro was the pinnacle of doubles coordination. It was like sharing one soul over two bodies. As soon as Oishi mentioned that, Horio looked at him, startled.

"Echizen can't do Synchro, can he?"

"No," said Inui. "He is working off his own pure skill at the moment."

Only Ryoma could play blind in the same way he could play with his eyes open. His technique hadn't dropped in the slightest. If anything, he had turned up the intensity and the evidence of that soon became clear when he hit a perfect drop volley, angling it so that it landed on the line. It was only just inside the court and it was a winner. Only Ryoma possessed such a feel for tennis that he could hit shots blind that even professional players would have trouble making.

"But how's he coordinating with Ryuzaki?" Momo asked.

"That's the thing," said Oishi. "I'm not sure."

They were all silent for a moment, contemplating the mystery. And then suddenly Eiji looked up and hit his fist against his palm, looking very enlightened.

"Didn't Fujiko-chan say earlier that o'chibi was _conscious _of Sakuno-chan? I bet that's what it is! He's able to visualise her or something!"

"So he's using the symptoms of a crush to his advantage?" Momo asked. He looked like he was trying to suppress laughter.

"Looks like it," said Kaidoh. He had been observing the match very carefully and his eyes were trained on Ryoma's movements. "Senpai is right."

Momo could hold it in no longer.

"Bahahahaha!"

"Hey, as long as it works, huh?" Eiji said, grinning with equal amusement.

They were all watching as Sakuno managed to set up an easy smash for Ryoma and how he looked a little bit satisfied as his shot levelled the score. It had taken them a while, but they were now playing the level of tennis that they had at the Kidomiya match.

The momentum was on their side. The score was now 5-5.

* * *

Nodoka and Kenichi were panting.

"I… can't believe it," Kenichi murmured. "How is that kid able to play so well blind?"

"He's a monster," said Nodoka, frowning.

They looked at each other – and for the first time since the match had started, they saw uncertainty in each other's eyes. They were not sure if they were going to win.

"Impossible," Kenichi said, with uncharacteristic quietness.

"We can still break them up," Nodoka assured him firmly.

As she said this, her lip trembled slightly. In the last five minutes, her confidence had taken a severe battering. The last time she had felt this way was when her friends stopped talking to her back in middle school. She knew how natural and easy it was for people to break up, so why was it proving so difficult to force Ryoma and Sakuno apart now?

"This is so unfair," she said, scowling. Glancing towards the equally glum-faced Kenichi, she slowly thought of something. She couldn't quit now. It wasn't over yet. "Wait… there's still one more change of ends. We can still win…"

* * *

Ryoma and Sakuno managed to take the next game, pushing the score up to 6-5 in their favour. Only twenty minutes ago, the score had been 5-2 against them.

Sakuno was starting to feel the anticipation as the minutes ticked closer towards the end of the match. It was just like last time, she found herself thinking. When she and Ryoma got into their rhythm, tennis did not feel so complicated. There was a sort of seamless quality to the game that she could never feel when she played by herself.

It felt… nice.

She glanced towards Ryoma, but he wasn't looking at her. Naturally. He couldn't even see her. Even so, Sakuno felt assured – safe, even.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him after the last point before the change of ends.

Ryoma just shrugged in answer. As Sakuno turned away, smiling to herself, Ryoma spoke up.

"Ryuzaki."

"Yes, Ryoma-kun?"

He tilted his head downward slightly. For a moment, it seemed like he was hesitating. Then he said, "Don't trip."

"Huh?"

But Ryoma was already making his way to the other end of the court.

Sakuno figured that Ryoma was telling her not to let her guard down. She chuckled to herself a little over this. Of course she wouldn't tri-

Oof.

"I'm still a klutz," she said ruefully to herself, getting back up to her feet with a nervous chuckle. Ryoma had jinxed her, she was certain. Good thing he couldn't see.

Wait, that wasn't something she ought to be happy about…

"I have no idea what he sees in you," a girl's voice said above her.

Sakuno blinked. Nodoka was peering down at her sourly, her arms folded huffily.

"I'm… sorry?" Sakuno said confusedly. Her first impulse was to be sheepish. As she continued to gaze at Nodoka, however, her nervousness dried away without any warning.

This girl had _hurt _Ryoma.

"Trying to break up people is… w-wrong," Sakuno said, and was dismayed to find there was a stutter in her voice and that she sounded unnaturally high-pitched. She couldn't shake the timidness out of her system entirely. Nodoka was a lot bigger than her. "H-How did you blind Ryoma-kun anyway?"

"Me? Blind him? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You liar," Sakuno said suddenly, more vehemently than she intended.

Nodoka's eyes hardened. "You're very rude."

"I'm sorry… I mean – I mean I'm not sorry at all!"

Unexpectedly, all that did was make Nodoka smile. "Bah, no wonder Kenichi thinks you're cute."

"Er…"

"Here, let me help you up."

She outstretched her hand. Instinctively, Sakuno took it; she had no idea what to think of her opponent now. She didn't trust Nodoka, but it was her impulse to accept any helping hand; she didn't really think about it. Nodoka was smiling, a little bit nostalgically, with a kind of melancholy that could have meant a thousand different things in a thousand different circumstances.

The moment when their eyes met was really a fleeting one. And yet it just that one moment, Nodoka's expression changed in front of Sakuno's eyes. It became firmer, stronger, _lonelier_.

"You're too trusting," she said, as her hand moved towards Sakuno's head, landing deftly on her pressure points.

Sakuno opened her mouth but Nodoka was too quick and too gentle for her to make a sound. Her vision suddenly became watery. Nodoka pulled back, her movements totally unnoticeable to any observer, and before Sakuno's weakening eyes, she began to smirk.

"It's not over yet," she said.

Then she walked past Sakuno, sparing her no further glances.

* * *

Sakuno stumbled over to where Ryoma was. Panic rose in her chest and she fought to keep it down. She could still see for now, albeit with a blurry vision, but she had no idea how she would handle it when she was blind altogether. How did Ryoma manage to deal with it?

Her head was pounding so much, it was like someone had set up an entire symphony of drum kits inside of there and was thrashing at the cymbals relentlessly. It was an endless dirge, coupled with piercing, side-splitting agony.

"Ryoma-kun… Ryoma-kun…!"

"What?" Ryoma asked her, his tone calm. If Sakuno had been in control of all of her wits, she might have tried to read deeper into his response. Maybe she would have thought to herself that she could hear some level of urgency beneath his veil of nonchalance.

For a moment, she struggled with herself, trying to find the words.

"They got me," she said in the end and she could feel her expression tearing up. Ryoma couldn't see the agony on her features, but he could certainly hear her dry, wracked sob.

"Calm down," he said quickly. Out of the corner of her blurry eyesight, she could see him signalling to the umpire for a break. Five minutes.

"I'm not like you, Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno whispered to him frantically. "I can't play blind like you!"

She thought she was losing her footing. Her knees had begun to feel weak. Without knowing quite what she was doing, she clung onto Ryoma. If she didn't do that, she would have fallen over altogether.

He stiffened.

"Sit down over there," he told her, patting the bench behind him.

It was like some kind of electric undercurrent had passed between them when she had touched him. She could tell he was thinking hard as she did as she was told. She watched him. His fingers were brushing against the familiar texture of his racquet's strings and his head was bowed. His face was too blurry for her to make out his expression.

"That's it," she heard him say quietly.

Through the pain, Sakuno's heart lifted. "Do you have a plan, Ryoma-kun?"

"Maybe," he said, and she could hear the smirk in his voice.

"So what is it?" Sakuno asked eagerly. Then she scrunched her face up and let it fall because dangerous thoughts had occurred to her. "I can't play properly now… are you going to cover for me? But it's my serve now…"

But Ryoma cut her off neatly and bluntly.

"Give me your hand," he said.

"What? Um… sure…"

She held it out in front of him. For a moment, he simply stood there unresponsively, his own hand hovering above hers hesitantly.

"Ryoma-kun…?" What was he trying to do – read her palm or something?

"Hmmmm…"

"Ryoma-kun, what are you…?"

She was silenced when he let his hand drop, so that she could feel the warmth of his palm against hers.

* * *

"What's he doing, exactly?" Kawamura asked, scratching his head.

"Whatever it is, he's got a reason for it," said Akira. "Echizen-kun doesn't strike me as the type that would do things without reason."

"Ryuzaki's blind too now, isn't she?" Akio pointed out. "If that's right, then they'd need to use touch now to communicate. I hope Ryuzaki will be all right…"

"Touch, huh?" Kaidoh grunted. "Can't they just talk to each other?"

The three boys in the freshman trio glanced at each other inquisitively.

"I wonder what Ryoma-kun's thinking…" Kachiroh muttered.

No one in the stands could hear what he was saying, but at that moment, Ryoma was standing beside Sakuno, explaining what he was doing as his hand tightened over hers. As he did, his other hand traced her arm, touching against the skin of her triceps. His touch was entirely clinical and dispassionate, with a kind of beamlike focus that was characteristic of the Prince of Tennis.

"I can tell you when to hit the ball. Just keep using the form I taught you," he told her. "Your body's not like mine, so I need to find out what it's like."

"O-Okay…"

His hands moved from her arms over to her shoulders. Ryoma moved around her to her behind, his breath landing lightly against her nape as he did so. Sakuno shivered.

"Hold still," he said firmly. His hands clamped down on her shoulders.

She exhaled slowly. "Will this work…?"

"Yeah, if you listen to me. It's about rhythm." Sakuno made a noise as if she wasn't quite convinced so Ryoma paused, and then expanded. He spoke slowly; he was not very used to detailing his entire thought process when he played tennis. "Don't try to compensate. If you move like normal, the ball will be where it usually is. That's how you play blind."

"I trust you," Sakuno said.

"Good." His hands started to move again, this time down her back. "Your hair is still too long."

"Sorry."

"You're never going to cut it…"

"Sorry."

"Stop saying sorry."

"So- okay."

They fell into an oddly comfortable sort of silence. Ryoma's hands continued prodding around her body. He paid particular attention to her leg muscles, touching and squeezing them with the intent of memorisation. If anyone else had touched Sakuno there, she would have squealed in dismay. As it was, she could feel the colour rushing to her cheeks. She was glad neither of them was able to see anything.

The spectators, on the other hand, saw everything.

"Is he… _feeling her up_?" Momo asked incredulously. He was craning his neck to try and get a better view.

"You're a pervert," said a furiously blushing Kaidoh.

"I don't see _you _looking away," Momo retorted tartly. "Pervert."

"Shut up! You're an idiot!"

("… He didn't even deny it…" Momo said later.)

"I get it now," Fuji said, smiling. "He's calibrating her body against his. He's trying to memorise exactly how her body moves."

"Can he really do that?" Eiji asked, impressed. "That sounds like something only a data freak like Inui could do."

Upon hearing his name mentioned, Inui pushed up his glasses.

"I would probably be able to calculate it more precisely than Echizen," he pointed out. "He appears to be using his intuition and his ability to visualise Ryuzaki in precise detail without looking at her directly as his basis for calibration."

"In other words, his crush symptoms again," Momo said.

"Indeed."

"I gotta admit, he's amazing, that kid," Momo said with a chuckle. "Only Echizen could make love mean something in tennis."

* * *

For quite some time now, the umpire had been staring at Ryoma and Sakuno awkwardly, not knowing how to interrupt them. He had never seen anything quite like this happen on a tennis court. He had no idea whether it was against the rules or not. But after five minutes, he decided he had had enough.

"Your break is, uh, over," he said to Ryoma, whose hand was still pressed against Sakuno's left thigh.

"Okay," said Ryoma.

"So you can, er, stop massaging your partner now."

"Sure."

The umpire blinked as Ryoma nonchalantly stood up and grabbed his racquet. In order to conceal his blindness, he put on shades.

"Let's go," he said casually to Sakuno.

"Yeaaaah!" she said, both eagerly and determinedly. She pressed up her arm against Ryoma's side.

"Just… just do what you want," the umpire groaned. He made his way back over to his chair and sat down, his head in his hands. What had been seen could not be unseen.

As Ryoma and Sakuno took their positions on the court, Kenichi was fuming.

"You are a terrible person!" Kenichi cried out to Ryoma. "Your hand had no right being anywhere near the pigtailed girl's divine thighs!"

"You seem mad," said Ryoma ironically.

Kenichi stood with his hands at his hips and he made a noise that sounded as if he was strangling himself. His eyes bulged.

"It is time to face your defeat!" he roared.

"Mada mada da ne."

Before Kenichi could finish combusting, Sakuno served.

"Move three paces to your right!" Ryoma instructed her, as he perceived Nodoka hit the ball. Sakuno obliged, preparing her racquet swing. "Bend your knees! Hit it!"

Sakuno swung at the ball. It wasn't a perfect strike – it hit the frame and ricocheted off to the side, slamming into the umpire's face.

"Awwww…" Sakuno said, disappointed.

"You still need to get used to it," said Ryoma, shrugging.

On the next point, Sakuno hit a double fault as she struggled to find her rhythm. She missed the ball altogether on the first serve and hit it into the net on the second.

"Love-thirty," the umpire announced, unable to keep the vindictive smugness out of his voice.

"Hahaha!" Kenichi roared in laughter. Again, he was standing with his hands on his hips. "How does your taste of defeat feel? You have no hope at all, you cretin!"

"Ryoma-kun, I don't think this is working," Sakuno interjected meekly.

"Keep going," was all he said.

The last thing he wanted was for this match to go on to a tiebreak. If it did, it would be a lot harder for them to win, owing to them having to change ends so often. It would disrupt their rhythm. Rhythm was the most important thing. They couldn't keep up their momentum forever.

"Hyaaa!" Sakuno cried, as she hit her next serve. It was a shaky serve, but it went in. Nodoka hit it back hard, but Ryoma darted across, anticipating the shot. He managed to volley it back straight at Nodoka, who in her surprise fumbled the return.

"15-30!"

"We… We can do it, can't we, Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno said, a little bit breathlessly.

He tilted his head towards her.

"Do you think I can keep hitting it in, Ryoma-kun?"

He shrugged. "I trust you."

Sakuno's response to that surprised him. She let out a gasp.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"That's the first time you've ever said that to me, Ryoma-kun…"

"Don't drag this match on," he answered simply. He wasn't sure why Sakuno was making such a big deal of it.

Wasn't it obvious that he trusted her?

"Okay, here I go," he heard Sakuno say. She tossed the ball up into the air and brought her racquet down hard. It was no longer a shaky serve – it was almost as good as her normal serve.

"One step left! Wait for it… now hit!" Ryoma told her urgently as he heard the ball bounce behind him. In his mind's eye, he could see a perfect picture of Sakuno's form: her pale, wobbly legs bending, her face scrunching with concentration, the racquet swinging and following through. As she came to land, her braids flew up behind her and she let out a soft grunt of exertion. He could hear just from the sound the ball made against the racquet that it had hit the sweet spot.

She had done her part supporting him. Ryoma took it from there, hitting a Cool Drive off the next ball. He had saved all of his special moves for this part of the match, when it really mattered. Faced with the true extent of Ryoma's abilities for the first time, their opponents had no way to adjust.

The climax of the match quickly approached.

"40-40!" the umpire announced, a little sourly.

Because of the No-Ad scoring system, it meant that this was Match Point.

* * *

Make no mistake: playing blind was terrifying. It felt like every time she took a step, she was going to get swallowed by a crevasse. She was utterly grateful that her natural clumsiness didn't come back to haunt her – much as Ryoma verbally guided her through the plays, it wasn't like he was physically holding her steady. She didn't know if she was going to bump into anything. When she swung her racquet, she had no real idea where the ball was positioned. In that sense, it was like she was utterly alone on the court. She had only to trust Ryoma's directions. She could not even see him.

When would this _end_, she found herself thinking. No matter how much trust she had in Ryoma, she could not allay her fears. If she could, she would have to be some kind of superhuman being.

_I trust you._

His voice resonated within her mind. It caused something like a ripple effect in there – every time she thought about it, her heart somehow fluttered.

She could feel that she was getting stronger. And none of this would ever have happened if it weren't for Ryoma. If she had never met him…

She had no idea where she would be.

"Game and set to Echizen-Ryuzaki pair!"

As if waking from a trance, Sakuno slowly became conscious of the sound of applause.

* * *

**Next chapter: **Ryoma and Sakuno go out on a date (?). Also, the return of Asakura Mio!

**(A/N: **I know I did update quite frequently for a while there, but that was my winter break, see. Expect updates to come around once a month from now on. On the upside, longer chapters! :D I'm also into other fandoms at the moment, so for those who have me on alert, this is just a heads up.

Ryoma wins at the Internet. You heard it from here first.

By the way, this chapter isn't over yet. Extra scenes to follow.)

* * *

"We… lost," Nodoka said weakly. Beside her, Kenichi just shook his head.

They had known defeat before, such as that occasion when they had played the Kidomiya twins. But that was different. The bond between siblings wasn't quite the same as the bond between friends and regular doubles partners. Yet to think that their efforts to break up Ryoma and Sakuno had done nothing but to strengthen their partnership – it was nothing short of an insult.

"Let's break up," said Kenichi.

"… What?" said Nodoka incredulously.

"Well, you suck at tennis, you know," said Kenichi, scratching his ear.

"I can't believe you!" Nodoka fumed. "You stuffed up too, you know!"

"Yeah, I know," said Kenichi.

He looked at her wryly.

Nodoka laughed. They both knew they deserved it.

* * *

Sakuno was incredibly elated at her victory up until the moment Akio congratulated her on her victory.

"Wow, Ryuzaki! You were so awesome out there! Especially the way you and Echizen communicated through touch!"

… _Touch._

Sakuno's face rapidly became the shade of a tomato. "Y-You saw that?" she squeaked.

"Sure did!" said Akio cheerfully. "Echizen's amazing, isn't he?"

On hindsight, letting Ryoma touch her so thoroughly in public was the stupidest thing she had ever agreed to.

"Please wipe it from your memory!" Sakuno said frantically. "All of it!"

"Huh? Really? But the way he managed to calibrate himself with you was so coo-"

But Sakuno could only sniff. "Ryoma-kun touched my legs. I'll never be a bride."

"Don't worry!" Akio assured her winningly. "I'd still marry you! That's what friends do!"

"… That's not what friends do at all…"


	21. It's all in the head

**Author's note: **I've been feeling like I need a break from Prince of Tennis. So yeah, I've been hanging around the Kuroko no Basuke fandom lately. Basically, I ditched a fandom about gay pretty boys playing sport for… a fandom about gay pretty boys playing sport. Yay me?

In any case, I'm back, but I'm still sick of RyoSaku. I thought I'd use this chapter to develop Sanada and Asakura instead. Sorry in advance to all the RyoSaku fans. There is still some interaction here, though. I hope you can appreciate that there is more to this story than just romance.

**Chapter 21 – It's all in the head**

Asakura Mio yawned and stretched on the sofa.

"Hey, dad," she said. "Pass the chips."

Her eyes were glued to the television in front of her. During her stay in Tokyo, Asakura Mio had rented out a hotel room with her father and the living area, much like its counterpart in Kanagawa, was an absolute pigsty. A bomb shell could have exploded in the area and the level of mess would have been comparable.

A grizzled-haired man in his forties grunted next to her. He seemed remarkably lean and fit for his age, though like Asakura, he slouched languidly on the couch. His eyes flickered towards the dressing table, where empty soda cans and chip packets lay stacked against each other like the pattern of an intricate mosaic.

"Mio," he said, clearing his throat. "Aren't you on a diet? You can't afford to get out of shape."

"Dad, you're an asshole," Asakura said casually. "Saying that while scoffing down all the chips yourself."

There was a rustling sound as Asakura's father lazily chucked away another empty chip packet. He munched away at the last chips and laughed.

"Hey, you see that home run?" he said suddenly, inclining his head towards the television. The two of them were watching the baseball together.

"The Hanshin Tigers are on fire today," Asakura remarked, grinning. She flexed her arms. "Makes me feel like hitting up with a baseball bat myself. When this match is over, let's go to the batting centre, dad."

"Don't you have a tennis tournament to play?"

Asakura was somewhat taken aback, though she quickly recovered. "Oh, right, yeah. Forgot about that."

At that moment, the Hanshin Tigers scored another home run, the crowd erupted into cheers, and someone knocked on the door.

"Huh? Whozat?" said Asakura, reacting about ten seconds too late. The person at the door was still hammering persistently away.

Her father made his way over to the door and opened it. "It's a boy," he called out. "Says he wants to talk to you."

Before Asakura could say anything to that, Sanada stomped into the room.

He grabbed Asakura by the shirt and brought her face up against his so that he could glare at her.

"Stop slacking off!" he said tersely. "Have you forgotten we have practice together?"

"My bad," said Asakura.

"Don't think you can get away with such a loose apology," Sanada said disdainfully. "On your feet, you lout."

Asakura marvelled vaguely to her partner's choice in words; did people these days even say 'lout' anymore?

"Excuse me," Asakura heard her father interject. "Is there a problem here?"

Sanada apologised politely to him. He even bowed.

"You sure respect your elders, huh, Genny?" Asakura commented, holding her hands behind her head. Sanada swung his gaze venomously towards her.

"I don't want to hear anything from you," he snapped. "Just get your racquet and let's go."

"Sure, sure." Asakura yawned. "See ya later, dad."

* * *

A few words about Sanada Genichirou:

He was brought up in a traditional Japanese family and learned kendo before tennis. As a child (if it is possible to imagine Sanada as a child) he was punished physically and severely if he ever put a foot wrong. Sanada did not believe himself to be traumatised by this in the slightest. In fact, he believed wholeheartedly that this was the proper way to bring up children.

Asakura Mio would receive no unfair treatment.

As soon as they were alone, he slapped her and told her to start running laps around the tennis court. Only after he felt that she was sufficiently punished would he begin to practise with her.

Asakura held her stinging red face and merely blinked.

"Go on," Sanada told her sternly. "Begin."

"Wait," Asakura mumbled. "I need to stretch first."

"_Go_."

Asakura peered at him for a moment blankly. Then she said, "Well, okay, but I don't reckon-"

Sanada slapped her again. Asakura started to run.

"Aren't you being a little unfair?" Jackal said behind him. "She's a girl, Sanada."

"I don't care whether she's a girl or not," Sanada answered shortly. "She's a player. She's from Rikkai. She needs to hold herself accordingly."

He had been rather disgusted by the state of Asakura's living conditions. This was a girl without any dignity. She might have talent (Sanada would not deny a person that) but he couldn't reconcile himself with anything else about her. He had expectations and Asakura did not live up to them. It was as simple as that.

At length, Asakura returned to him. Her expression was still blank. "Are we starting now, Genny?" she asked.

"Not yet," said Sanada. "I want to talk to you."

"Huh." Asakura shrugged. "Go ahead."

Sanada peered at her. Since slapping her, he had perceived a subtle shift in Asakura's attitude towards him. Her nonchalance seemed almost defiant to him.

"I have a problem with your attitude," he said.

"Oh, okay," she said. "That it?"

Sanada did not reply for a moment as he mentally framed his response. Asakura was a thousand kinds of frustrating, but surely she understood the same things he did.

"We are Rikkai," he said. "We play to win, not for you to fool around."

She laughed. "Don't get your knickers in a knot, Genny. I'm not gonna let you down."

He thought about their last match together. Perhaps her synergy theory was right; they had certainly played well together. The question was whether that whimsical disposition of hers was enough to carry them through to the finals.

He turned away with a grunt.

"If you're going to talk nonsense, then we may as well just play."

They played a practice match against Marui and Jackal. Asakura took a while to settle into her play, but even so, they ended up losing 6-3. Asakura was completely unable to return any of Marui's cord shots. She laughed whenever she failed to return a shot and took the defeat philosophically.

"Sorry, Genny," Asakura said, grinning. "Looks like I still need to improve."

"Then do so," Sanada told her sharply. "That's what's wrong with your attitude."

Asakura stopped. Her racquet lay loosely in her hand. She did not look up.

Sanada held her by the shoulders and forced her to look him in the eyes. "Is tennis just a game to you, Asakura?"

"Well, yeah," said Asakura, blinking. "It is a game."

"Thinking like that is what will let us down."

Asakura looked at him. Her expression was still carefully nonchalant and blank. But slowly, her lips turned upwards into a smile. It wasn't one of her usual carefree smiles.

"I know," she said, and that was her entire reaction.

"…Well?" Sanada pressed her. His hands were still clamped on her shoulders and his gaze was still boring into hers. It must have been uncomfortable for her, being held to the spot like that, but she did not look away. She was still smiling as if there was a weight tugging on the edges of her lips. The wind blew, and Sanada felt for a moment that just that small pressure could peel the smile away. There was something measured and steely about her gaze.

Sanada thought to himself: _she's not a ditz._

"You know," said Asakura, "I care about winning just as much as you do. Or I did."

"And then what?" Sanada demanded.

And Asakura grinned.

"I took therapy."

* * *

"Go out with me," Ryoma said to Sakuno.

"E-Eh?"

It was a very unusual request, especially considering the type of person Ryoma was. Sakuno held the phone closer to her ear, not quite able to believe what she had heard.

"I want to watch Sanada's match," Ryoma said. "Come with me. We should take notes."

Sakuno buried her face in her pillow. Since the end of the match against the Couple Cleaver, talking to Ryoma was kind of awkward. Sakuno knew it wasn't Ryoma's fault, but, well, she _was _a girl of twelve and these things were embarrassing, darn it.

"You don't have to come if you don't want," Ryoma went on. "I can do it myself."

"N-No! I'll come!" Sakuno squeaked hastily. She then promptly went back to face-planting her pillow.

"Okay, bye," said Ryoma, and then he hung up.

Sakuno stared at the phone. She put it down slowly, gripped her pillow, stared at it for a moment as if trying to imagine someone's face on it, and then started hugging it as if she would never let it go.

* * *

In the morning of Sanada and Asakura's quarterfinal match, Sanada set Asakura to work early. He made her run and lift weights and hit balls until her arms felt ready to drop off her shoulders. She had no objections to all the extra practice, though she did shoot a few odd glances in Sanada's direction. "Do you always push yourself this hard?" she asked him after Sanada hit a winner right past her in their warm-up. She bent down to pick up the ball and Sanada merely snorted at her.

"Of course," he said, as if Asakura's question was the most obvious thing he had ever heard.

"Not to be a downer," said Asakura, "but it's not really that healthy. I mean, sure, you look like a thirty-year-old man-"

"I take offence to that," Sanada said stiffly.

"-but you've still got the body of a junior high kid, Genny. Your kind of practice does you more harm than good."

"You have no right to tell me what to do."

Asakura shrugged. "Well, then, you have no right to tell me what to do either."

"Don't be ridiculous," Sanada said sharply.

He waited expectantly for Asakura to hit the ball back to him, but she merely stuffed it into her pocket.

"I think I'm ready," she announced. The match was starting in ten minutes. Much as he hated the idea of it, Sanada had to let her get away with it.

What Asakura did not mention was that she was already tired; Sanada had pushed her too hard. When she trained (and she did this often) she did it in half-hour blocks. Up until she had met Sanada, she had worked according to a schedule. But Asakura considered adapting to new things one of her strengths, so she did not complain about her aching limbs.

They stepped onto the court together. Asakura took one deep breath and then looked up firmly.

"Think you can do it, Genny?" she asked casually, flicking an easy smile in his direction that he did not return. "I won't let you down, man."

"I'll hold you to that promise," Sanada responded. Those were the last words they exchanged before the match started.

In the end, Asakura failed.

They won the match 6-4, but Asakura did not play as well as she could have; she hit a few shots out and she did not defend the important points as strategically as she should have. After each failure, the fire remained in Asakura's eyes. Each point for her started afresh. Each mistake burned against virgin skin.

They won, and in Sanada's eyes, that was the very definition of failure. What was victory if it wasn't _total victory_?

Their eyes met as they walked off the court. Sanada turned away and after a moment of looking back after him, Asakura's eyes shifted down too. Her mouth trembled and then her teeth grit together. Her fists clenched and her eyebrows furrowed.

They walked off the court without saying anything.

As for Ryoma and Sakuno, who watched the match from the stands, Ryoma said nothing and Sakuno nudged at his shoulder timidly.

"Do you think we can beat them, Ryoma-kun?" she asked him quietly.

Instead of answering her question, Ryoma simply looked at her. "What do you think?" he asked.

Sakuno was taken aback but she did her best to think about it. "I think… I think we could win," she said sheepishly. Her voice rose uncertainly towards the end, seeking confirmation.

In response, Ryoma said, "That girl is mada mada."

"Yeah… I guess so…"

"But she's a good sportsman," Ryoma went on.

"Ryoma-kun…?"

Ryoma stood up. "Let's go practise, Ryuzaki."

* * *

Asakura did not stay at the stadium long after completing the match. She took the first bus back to her hotel and waited around in the lobby for her father to come back. When he did return, they went up to their room together, and Asakura did not come out for a long while.

For his part, Sanada remained with his team mates. They were happy for him; he and his partner had made it to the semi-finals. Sanada did not want to talk about the match. He simply stood with the other Rikkai regulars with his arms folded and a scowl planted across his face. He didn't want to talk full stop.

"But I'm impressed, Genichirou," Yukimura said to him later, as they were walking to their own hotel together. "That you would come so far with a doubles partner you barely know is quite a feat."

Sanada merely grunted dourly in response. Yukimura watched him and his mouth curled up into a smile.

"You told her to work harder for your sake, didn't you? And she did. Your attitudes don't mix, but she tried to see things your way."

"Result and effort are not always the same."

"Yanagi." Yukimura turned to their squinty-eyed, brown-haired team mate. "You looked up her data." It was not a question.

"I did." Yanagi nodded. "Turns out as a first year, she led the volleyball team to Nationals. Then she failed in her second year and was quiet after that. This year, she won again."

Sanada said nothing to that.

"Her special ability," Yanagi went on, "is her mental game. Just by having fun, she's able to use what we call the _Muga no Ky__ō__chi_. In volleyball, she calls it the Flow. She can also synchronise with almost any partner in a team game. The reason for that is probably because her father is a sport psychologist."

Sanada recalled Asakura's unwillingness to give up and her complete faith in teamwork. Even when she was not playing well physically, she never let herself fall into destructive mental habits. She simply picked herself up and went on playing with a smile on her face.

What tomfoolery, he thought.

"A sport psychologist?" Sanada repeated.

"Yeah, he also coaches," Yanagi explained. "A bunch of elite sportsmen are referred to him for therapy."

… _therapy?_

Sanada remembered something Asakura had said to him, and at that moment, it felt as if a chill went down his spine, suddenly and disarmingly.

"There is somewhere I must go," he said shortly. "I will be finished shortly. Go on without me."

He had turned his back on his team mates as he said that; he did not see them smile.

* * *

Asakura's father opened the door for him when he knocked. He peered at Sanada solemnly, as if the boy had intruded upon a shamanistic ritual he would never understand. But he smiled politely enough and asked Sanada what he wanted.

"I wish to speak to your daughter," Sanada announced.

"She's meditating right now," Asakura's father explained. "Could you come back later?"

Sanada craned his neck slightly. He could see over Mr. Asakura's shoulder that his daughter was sitting cross-legged on a mat on the floor. It was the only clean part of the room. Her eyes were closed serenely and her body held itself with a kind of poise Sanada had never witnessed from her.

He couldn't help but think of how strange she looked to him. At the same time, it suited her more than he cared to admit. There was something elegant about the way she meditated and the utter calmness that came with it.

"You're a sport psychologist, aren't you?" Sanada asked her father pointedly.

"Yes," Asakura's father replied simply. "That's my job."

"Tell me," said Sanada. "What did Asakura need therapy for?"

Asakura's father only smiled. "You've got the wrong idea about sport psychology. It's not about fixing problems straight away; it's about building mental skills for life. It takes a long time for the results to show. But as for Mio, she's been doing this meditation therapy for a year now."

Sanada turned away slightly. Now that he had come this far, he was no longer quite as sure what he had really wanted to ask. All he could think was that there was more to Asakura's frustrating attitude than he had first realised.

"It took her a year to develop this strength," Asakura's father went on. "She's very adept at it now. She can will herself to relax at any time, no matter what the circumstance. I call it Total Relaxation Therapy."

Sanada said nothing. Asakura's father continued:

"You might not realise it, but Mio is a very talented girl at sports. You may not be able to see it in her tennis because that's not her primary sport, but her strength at volleyball is comparable to your captain Yukimura's strength in tennis. Until her second year at middle school, she never lost a game. But a year ago, she suffered her first defeat at Nationals and it got to her. After her winning streak ended, her losing streak began. She had to teach herself how to relax. That's why she took therapy."

"I see," said Sanada. The chill was back. For a sudden, searing moment he _wondered _what was going to happen to Yukimura, to himself, to the entire _team_. Rikkai had lost its crown this year; their reign was over. Asakura did know how it felt after all. It was something he had not had much opportunity to dwell upon because of the recent tournament, but he would never forget the utter stain of defeat and how it felt as it smeared all over his name, his face and his entire being.

"I see," Sanada said again, his tone completely even. And then he said, "Thank you."

Perhaps he didn't need to tell Asakura to push herself. She already knew what needed to be done. She knew how to win, how to hold the crown, how to stand above all others.

She _was _a Rikkai student, after all.

* * *

**Next chapter: **It's back to Ryoma and Sakuno for the next chapter, and we finally uncover the identity of the person who stopped the purse thief in chapter 16.

**Author's note: **One of the limitations of the written medium is not being able to visually represent the over-the-top moves in PoT. On the other hand, one of the great parts about writing is that you get to focus more on psychology and what goes on inside people's heads. In all the matches I've written for this story, I've tried to focus equally (if not more) on the mental side of the game. As they say, sport is 50 percent physical and 90 percent mental.

* * *

**Omake:**

Asakura woke from her trance about thirty minutes later. She promptly started looking around for soda, only to have her father place a restraining hand on her arm and shake his head.

"Darn it. I got caught," Asakura said, laughing.

Her father laughed along with her. "By the way," he said to her, "your friend Sanada-kun dropped by. He said he was just in the area."

While Asakura considered Sanada her friend, she was not quite sure that term was correct. She kind of doubted that Sanada thought likewise of her. Oh well.

"Hey, wait a minute," she said suddenly. "Isn't his hotel in the complete opposite direction?"

"Hmmm, it is, isn't it?"

"I knew it," said Asakura sagaciously, as if she had just figured out the meaning of life and the universe. "Genny is a tsundere."


End file.
